Witch's Quest
by CaramelIllusions
Summary: No one said being a witch was easy. Manami and Akari are two young witches ready to get their familiars and enter the world of witches however there seems to be trouble brewing and the girls are thrown into the real witching world sooner than they would have liked. (Rating may change. Minor OCs Possible character death and maybe some pairings)
1. Exposition

**Sup! I got a new story going now! Hahaha I should finish my other stories but this is procrastination in the shape of productivity! Any way Kayano is the oldest at 17 and both rio and okuda are 16 and I will be referring to Kayano by her real name since in the AU her sister didn't die so there was no need to change her name and all that. Also heads up some character relations will be different since the events of the show didn't happen.**

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The four medieval walls of the young witch's room were lined with various dark oak racks, each rack containing various glimmering jars and colorful potions all of which were neatly lined up in alphabetical order. The room's dark stone walls were softly illuminated by the flickering light of the burning candle that sat at the edge of the wooden desk, alongside it were three jars of ink that were lined up along the back. Near the front of the desk were various sheets of scattered paper. The papers were mostly half-finished alchemic equations, spell incantations, or hastily written notes. Two towers of thick books were stacked besides the desk, sitting atop the dark chocolate wooden floors like pillars. Most of the books were about alchemy and the ancient summoning ritual known as The Bonding Ritual. The shuffling sound of feet resonated within the walls as the young witch scurried through her room in search for another candle since the one she was using was nearing its wick's end.

"Ah! Found you." She proclaimed happily as she found a spare candle hidden in the very depths of her drawer.

"Now that I'm thinking about it…I'm going to have to get more candles…I also noticed my stock of chloroform is depleting I'm going to have to make more..." She said out loud making herself a mental list of supplies she needed and what potions she was running low on.

The golden speaking tubes found in every witch girl's room spontaneously blared out with a female's voice.

"ALL RIGHT BRATS TIME FOR BED! LIGHTS OUT!" Professor Bitch said or more precisely yelled.

Manami jumped back in surprise and managed to drop the candlestick.

"Y-Yes Ma'am..." She responded even though she didn't have to.

Manami picked up the candlestick and proceeded to continue her research. Professor Bitch was never too strict on the rules…at least the rules she didn't care about and Professor Bitch did not care about curfew so Manami was free to burn the night away.

She sorted through the various pieces of paper trying to find the one she was working on…. _The Bonding Ritual is only a few months away I have to make sure I'm ready._ The Bonding Ritual was the last step every young Witch has to take in order to be considered a real professional witch. After the ritual is performed the witch is bonded with a familiar. The familiar varies depending on the witch, sometimes they were the classic spirits other times they were more unorthodox like goblins or other mythical creatures; like a sphinx or pixies. The familiar would then become the Witch's loyal assistant and partner…

A witch with no familiar is no witch at all, because those who do not have a contract with a familiar are immensely weaker than the ones that do. This is so because witches and their familiars share a pool of magic composed of the magical energy of both participants; the basic jest is the more familiars the more power, the stronger the familiar the more power. With a familiar by her side a witch is fully recognized as a professional and will be able to participate in quests and will be given jobs. Some witches even join guilds and become part of a team; others are freelancers and usually take on solo jobs and others create mystics' shop where they can sell various potions and magical gear.

Manami had taken the liberty of learning all she could about the Bonding Ritual. All her life she was either ridiculed for her inability to cast spells or hated for her magical origins, non-magic users aren't too fond of magic folk thanks to the bad image magic users gained due to mystic gangs and rouge witches. As for spell casting…well it wasn't her forte…she wasn't much of a caster…she was more of a wielder; which is a person that can use various magical objects by becoming a vessel of energy, they can also create magical objects like potions, wands, enchanted runes, etc.

Casting required making up spells using eloquent language, concentrating on drawing the right amount of energy and a level-headed persona because in the real world you're probably going to be casting spells in the heat of battle. Most spell casters excel in English and Literature and while there are spells one can memorize they aren't as strong as spontaneous spells…Manami vaguely remembers a book calling this phenomenon the _Deus Ex Machina Effect…_ Supposedly the reason why heat of the moment spells are stronger is because they draw strength from not only magical energy but from the intense emotional energy of the caster as well, which acts as a buffer. The book goes on to state that because written down spells are taught to a wide range of people the original spell's meaning is lost and one can no longer draw from the energy of the spell created, at least not as well. It also goes on to say that situational spells are more efficient as the caster can determine the amount of energy needed, unlike written down spells were the energy intake is always constant. In short written spells are watered down for larger audience consumption and lose their strength and are therefore labeled as artificial spells and original spells are more in tune with the situation at hand and act accordingly to what the caster needs.

"Ah! There it is!" Manami exclaimed relived she had found the paper she was looking for. The paper was filled with scribbles and various half-baked incantations.

"Now…let's see what would be a good summoning spell…?" Manami wondered out loud as she sat down on her desk chair tapping her pencil against her chin in thought.

The Bonding Ritual required an original spell which would then be performed in a magical summoning circle. The words were very important! After all, the familiar you get will be entirely based on how strong your summoning spell is and how you present yourself…. _So I have to basically woo my familiar to bonding with me…_ Manami thought cynically…She was never too good with words…or courting someone for that matter…The last time she attempted to woo someone it ended horribly…Though now Manami was at least glad she could look back at that moment and laugh at it…Her lips twitched upwards as she thought about it.

It was during the weekend. Students from the witching academy were allowed to go out to the town below during the weekdays and weekends as long as they didn't get into mischief. Akari had wanted to go down town to check out a new cafe shop that had recently opened up during the week. Manami decided to join her best friend for a little tour down town, after all even though she loved spending her free time making potions and elixirs she grew tired of being locked up in her room slowly suffocating on the musty castle air that intermingled with the fumes of chemicals, sometimes she needed a break and a walk down town to get some pastries sounded delightful.

Besides it was nice having air conditioning and light bulbs once in a while. The academy's magical aura often disturbed electronic devices so there weren't any on campus and even though some magical academies were now integrating technology into their school others schools, like Manami's, were old fashioned. They believed that it's better to learn how to do things without the aid of technology in order to create a self-sufficient witch who had natural talent and not a mediocre witch that relied on tools and tech.

Both witches made their way down the stone brick walkway happily chatting about classes and teachers. They knew they were close to the cafe shop when they smelled the delicate scent of wafting sugar and coffee. The shop was small but it was very homey. Manami liked it. It wasn't too crowded and it was quiet. They walked in and the silver bell welcomed their presence. The worker greeted them kindly…He was around their age and Manami instantly felt self-conscious, she was never good at interacting with the opposite sex or interacting in general. He had spiky brown hair, two strands of which stuck out on top of his head like antennas and he had kind pale golden eyes that radiated warmth…

"Good afternoon, ladies." He said with a hospitable smile.

It was such a lovely smile. Manami hid behind her green-haired friend afraid that if she gazed into his golden apple eyes she wouldn't be able to look away.

"Good afternoon…uhhh" Akari squinted her eyes at the name tag.

"Isogai. This place is fairly new and we haven't come here before what would you recommend?" Akari asked.

Isogai placed a finger on his chin in thought.

"Hmm…Well what are your personal taste? Do have a big sugar tooth?" He asked.

In the end they decided to get two puddings and an iced cappuccino for Akari, a toffee caramel coffee and a simple piece of chocolate cake (they didn't make honeycomb toffee) for Manami.

"Here you go."

"O-Oh uhh t-thank you…." Manami muttered shyly.

"If you need anything don't hesitate to call me over." He said with a smile before walking off. As soon as he was out of ear shot Akari leaned over the table with a teasing smile.

"W-what is it…?" Manami asked not at all liking the way Akari was looking at her with mischievous eyes and a playful grin.

"You think he's cute."

"I-I w-well I…" Manami stuttered and Akari giggled.

"Come on Manami listen next time he comes around turn up your charm. You are very cute even Professor Bitch thinks you look very cute."

"I-I don't know…"

"Come on at least try." Akari coaxed…

Manami sighed…She couldn't argue with Akari … _I thinks she's spending too much time with Rio…_ Manami thought glumly as she waited for Isogai to come back and check on them.

"Is everything okay here? Do you need anything?" Isogai asked.

Manami stiffened…it was now or never…She opened her mouth to say something but immediately shut it…She looked at Akari for reassurance. Akari merely nodded reassuringly and mouthed a 'you can do it'…Isogai glanced between the two confused.

"Is everything ok-.."

"You're attractive!" Manami yelled… _Ah!_ _I messed up…_

Manami swore internally as she saw Isogai's taken aback expression. "I uhh haha no I-I mean no sorry! You're not attractive! I mean you are! W-what I meant t-to mean is you're very a-a-attractive you and your face and the rest of y-you! But I-I uhh haha don't just mean superficially! I uhh you are v-very nice, nice personality! W-which is great b-because b-but I am sorry! The sorry c-cause you hear this I mean you m-must hear this all the t-time and I-I w-wasted that time! Haha but I'm not sorry b-because its y-your fault for being attractive…A-and I Akari …help me…!" Manami was a bright red and she was stuttering so hard she wasn't forming sentence anymore she instinctively tried to hide behind Akari as she tried to curl herself up in a little ball.

"We're fine, thank you."

"O-Okay…" He said and walked away slowly…

"Hmm…I'm not sure if he's confused, rejected you or didn't register a thing you said." Akari wondered out loud as she took a sip of her cappuccino.

"….I really hope it's the last one…" Manami said glumly.

"Hey, but, but! Progress! You talked to a cute guy….sort of…" Manami let out a groan of embarrassment.

"More like made a fool of myself in front of a cute guy…." She mumbled.

"So you admit he's cute."

"A- Akari!" Akari just giggled.

Manami giggled at the memory before letting out a yawn…It was getting late and it was a school day tomorrow, she decided to continue working on the spell tomorrow. After all she still had five months to prefect it…Maybe she could ask Rio for some pointers…Manami stretched out her tired limbs, undid her braids, walked over to her bed with candle in hand and placed the candle down on her night stand. She took of her glasses and blew the flame out before falling to sleep the last thoughts she had were.

 _I wonder what my familiar will be…I wonder how they will act…I hope my familiar will be as nice as Isogai was…._

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 ** _Wow that was a dump of info! Anyway R &R please I really hope you liked it! I actually have an end goal in mind for this story more or less. I want it to be long and kind of a slow burn...hmm we'll see how this goes..._**


	2. Asking for help

**Hey guys thank you so, so much for the great reviews! I'll will be addressing some of you in regards to the story**

 **Dear guest (the 2** **nd** **one) In regards to parings I'm still iffy…But if uhh you um didn't know I also have another story called Random love *coughsmalessplugincough* that's basically one-shots of Okuda with various other E-class students so if you haven't read it I think you might like it…You can also vote for or suggest future pairings**

 **Dear Gamer- Oh my god…I want to read whatever story you're thinking about! I actually have an idea fo this story already but I like some of your ideas to and I hope you don't mind if I use'em later on…oh but you gave a wonderful idea…mwhahmwahMWAHMAWH…. Ha…*cough***

 **ANywho I Made a cover for he story but I can get it to upload so check it out on my tumblr blog/hazydraw3r**

 **Enjoy the chapter!**

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Light poured in from the glass window and coated the room in a layer of bright white light. Opening her eyes Manami let out a yawn, she was still a little tired; which was to be expected as she had gone very late into the night trying to learn more about the Bonding Ritual.

She put on her glasses, got out of bed and went to change into her uniform. First things first she grabbed her brush and started detangling her slightly wavy dark violet colored hair before braiding it into its signature braids. After putting on her school uniform, which was just a black skirt, a grey undershirt, a darker grey blazer with a red tie, and the signature back witch hat and cape she grabbed her purple pouch and slung the thin shoulder strap over her shoulder. Although the silk pouch appeared small it was actually enchanted and could hold various items, most of which were school books and magic supplies.

Walking down the hallway of the dormitory Manami heard Akari's voice calling her name. She stopped walking and let Akari catch up to her before talking.

"Good morning Akari." Manami said happily.

"Morning, Manami!" Akari greeted back with a smile.

Both witches made their way to the intimating castle that sat idly on a hill. They filled the silent air by chitchatting about various things, but the one thing on both of their minds was the Bonding Ritual…That's to be expected the Bonding Ritual is a big event in any witch's life only second to their wedding.

"So what do you think you're familiar is going to be?" Akari asked.

"Hmm…I don't know…maybe just a simple spirit. What about you?" Okuda replied.

"Well I'm hoping for a demon." Akari responded. Manami's purple eyes widened at the word demon.

While it wasn't unheard of to get a demon as a familiar it definitely wasn't just an everyday occurrence. Demons have a great amount of magical energy and witches' with demon familiars are some of the most powerful witches there were…But, there was always a risk a witch had to take with a demon. If they weren't careful the demon could consume their body, mind and soul….but that only happens if the witch is too weak-willed, corrupted in some way, or overuses the demon's abilities.

"A-a demon…?"

"Yeah…You see my older sister got a demon as a familiar and I want to be like my sister!"

"Oh I see…hmm…Demons are too scary for me…I feel much more comfortable with a spirit or even a bakeneko." Manami commented with a sheepish smile.

"Hmmm…I can see you with a bakeneko maybe a cute Scottish fold one."

"S-so have you finished your bonding spell incantation?" Okuda asked.

They were now entering their first class of the day, which they both happened to be in: Alchemy class, Manami's favorite.

"No, but I'm almost done…I feel like I got a good incantation going, but I don't think its demon summoning good yet." Akari confessed as she opened her small pudding shape purse and started placing her ink and quill on the elongated wooden table.

"Oh okay, I was thinking about asking Rio for some pointers." Manami said as she set her stuff down on the table next to Akari's stuff.

"Yeah good idea! Rio's an amazing caster. I have her next block want me to ask for the both of us?"

"Really? Thanks I appreciate it."

"Alright class! Take your seats and open your books to chapter ten…" The teacher said and with that the class started.

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Manami excelled at creating poisons and potions. She could write the entire procedure for an elixir with one brush stroke! She may not be a great caster but she was a great wielder. After class Manami packed her stuff and waved goodbye to her friend. Akari had physical education with Rio while Manami had Magic Caster Re-Ed.

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After Magic Casting Re-Ed, Manami went to Lumen magic class where she learned sense magic and wield magic. Sense magic is used to gain information on the enemies' power level and their true intentions; it allows the witch to be more aware of her surroundings making surprise attacks useless. Wield magic allows a witch to draw upon the energy of nearby things and cast small but powerful spells that can reach far distances. After that she headed towards Defensive magic class. Defensive magic is just learning counters for basic common magic tricks like mind control, performing healing spells, counters to curses, etc. Once the bell rang it signaled the time for a small break.

Manami went to the school cafeteria where she knew Akari was most likely to be during break. She searched for the bright green hair that was sure to be her friend….but her search was cut short. Manami could feel their heated gazes on her back. She willed herself not to look back…But that just made their gazes burn all the hotter. She tried to pretend they weren't there but that gave them the opportunity to surround her. She gulped….It was the flower girls... (So named because the three people making the group were all named after flowers)

"Hey your poison glasses, right?" Daisy asked her tone cold and flat.

Manami simply nodded…She felt intimated. These girls were good casters and Manami feared what they would do to her if she upset them.

"You don't look like much. How did _you,_ of all people, receive the highest marks in alchemy class?" Iris scoffed with a slight sneer…

Manami didn't respond. She couldn't seem to find her voice. It was trapped within her vocal cords trying to wiggle its way through the constricting tubes.

"The top spot was for me! Not for some weak wielder who can't even create a simple levitation spell!" Aster, the leader, cried out clearly angry with the petite witch for stealing her spot in first place.

"I-I'm sorry…" She quietly apologized; her shoulders tensing when she was called a weak wielder.

Wielders weren't exactly well renowned, most people saw them as frauds that can't use any _real_ magic on their own and have to constantly relay on an outside source of magical energy. Often she got bullied for being a wielder and not a caster….Weak, useless, phony, fraud, unworthy….all those words were constantly repeated to her, she almost considered them truth.

Her body felt weak as her mind took her back in time to when she was almost stoned for being a witch and almost got pushed off a cliff when the witches' constant bullying went too far….She didn't like being vulnerable. She didn't like being a burden to others. She wanted to be independent! But it wasn't her fault! It's not her fault she sucks at casting!

"Sorry's not gonna cut it! Listen you're a weak witch, I don't even think you'll have enough power to even summon a familiar. I think it would be best for everyone if you just dropped out. Get out while you're ahead ya'know." Iris said with venomous kindness.

 _She's probably right._ Manami thought…In order to summon a familiar a witch had to draw from her own source of power to open a large enough magic portal and sustain said portal until a contract was made….B-but…even if she couldn't do it…She at least had to try!

"No!"

"I'm sorry….what did you say?!" Daisy cried out taken aback by the fierce replay.

"I-I may not be the strongest caster but that doesn't make me any less of a witch…A-and if I got the highest score in alchemy class it's because I worked for it! I may not be the strongest witch and I-I may not get a strong familiar, but at least I don't have to be so insecure about my abilities that I have to scare off potential competition!" Manami said fiercely as her grip on her purse strap tighten and she closed her eyes, refusing to make eye contact for fear that this feeling, this spontaneous course of power and strength that flowed through her like lighting would disappear if she dared look into their eyes. It was one of those rare moments were she felt confident and powerful.

The flower girls were taken aback by the introverted girl's burst of confidence but their surprise soon turned to anger.

"How dare you speak to us like that?!"

"We need to put no good wielders like you in their place!"

"No one talks to us like that without getting hexed!"

Manami flinched back and tried to reach for her wand, but luckily she didn't have to. Before, the girls could even raise their wands they were forcibly pushed back by a strong invisible force….Manami knew who it was…she recognized the aura.

"R-Rio!" She cried relived to see her best friend.

"Yo!" Rio cried out with a wide smile mindlessly twirling her wand in between her fingers.

"H-How dare you do that?!" Aster cried though she seemed less intimating now, almost scared. She must have sensed Rio's power.

"Ehh you have some nerve asking me that. What was I supposed to do, stand by and watch you hurt my friend? I don't thinks so. Now run along little girls before you see what a real witch is like!" She said with an easy going smile but her aura had grown deadly boarding on blood lust.

They didn't need to be told twice they scurried away with their tails in between their legs.

"T-thank you Rio!" Manami said grateful her friend had come at the nick of time… _Though I probably shouldn't relay too much on her I need to be able to do things on my own…_

" _Eh_ don't sweat it, it was nothing. But I'm proud of you Okuda-chan!" She said with a big grin as she wrapped her arm around Okuda's shoulders. "It looks like you _do_ have some backbone! I'm so proud!"

"Hehe…uh thanks…" Okuda said sheepishly.

"In any case… Akari said you guys wanted some pointers."

"Oh yeah! Y-you know for the Bonding Ritual!" Manami explained.

"Okay let's meet up later at my dorm room and I'll give you some pointers."

"Thank you! That's sound great!" Manami exclaimed happily as Rio took her leave. Break time would be over soon and if they didn't want to be late for their next class they would need to start making their way towards their classroom now considering how big the school was.

"Oh and Okuda keep that courage up! You'll find casting much easier when you have some self-assurance!" Rio said happily.

"Ok!" Manami replied happy Rio was her friend.

* * *

That night while the sun was still setting Manami made her way down the long hallways of the dormitory to room 260, Rio's room. She had brought along her silk purple pouch filled with paper, books about summoning and the Bonding Ritual and writing utensils. Manami's nerves were shot and she could barely contain her excitement. Her heart was beating quickly within her chest and she was practically hopping with joy on the soles of her feet… _Finally I can finally finish my summoning spell!_ She knocked on the wooden door and waited for Rio to open it.

"Hey Okuda-chan! Ohh nice pajamas~" Rio commented with a teasing smile, her blue eyes glancing up and down Manami's petite frame. Manami blushed…she forgot Rio had a dirty mind.

"Oh uuhh thank you…" She replied sheepishly. Really she was just wearing a large over sized pastel purple shirt that had varies alchemy symbols on it along with some black shorts underneath.

"Well come on in! Welcome to my domain! Make yourself comfortable!" Rio exclaimed happily as she gestured to her room.

There were mangas and research books stacked up in messy piles, tipping and leaning over like the tumbling towers of building blocks made by a child. There was a bookshelf but most of its books were sprawled out on the floor or were part of the leaning tower of books on the ground. Rio had a candle chandelier hanging overhead which bathed the room in a welcoming light. The walls were covered with pictures of Rio and her various friends and family members along with a few motivation posters and music groups. Unlike her room Rio's was filled more with papers and quills versus the flasks and weighing scales in Manami's. Everything else in the room seemed normal, a furry bright red circle rug, some manga posters and what Manami assumed were half-finished fanfictions. But what caught Manami's eye was the large body pillow on Rio's bed… _She didn't even try to hide it…._ Manami thought as she felt a bead of sweat roll down her face. She didn't know who the guy on the pillow was but she felt it was rude to keep staring considering the…uhh…compromising state he was in. Rio noticed.

"Hehe I see you met my husbando!" Rio said with a sheepish smile.

"Uhh…Where's Akari?" Manami asked trying to change the subject all the while looking at anything but the body pillow.

"She forgot to bring her rough draft and she went to go get it. She'll be here in a minute or two. In the mean time I actually have a few questions for you." Manami tilted her head intrigued.

"Questions…?" Rio was a very intelligent individual…What kind of question would she have for her? Maybe it was something about alchemy…

"Yeah like would you mind telling me more about this Isogai guy…?"

"W-what h-how did you…?" Okuda flushed.

"Akari told me."

"W-well he I uhh w-what it wasn't I j-just I….I don't want to talk about it…." Manami said trying to hide her flustered face in her hands. Rio just chuckled.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, but seriously I wanted to ask you something important…What do you want?"

"What do I want? What do you mean…?" Manami asked her eyes peeking through her fingers starring at Rio with confusion.

"Listen Manami I asked Akari the same question and I think you should think about your response because it will affect your outcome in the Bonding ritual…What do you want? What do you desire? What is your wish? And why do you want it?"

"…" Manami stayed silent as she thought about what she wanted…

"Give it some thought."

"Ok…" Manami replied and nodded.

"I found it!" Akari burst in through the door waving a piece of paper around, out of breath.

"Alright now we can start!" Rio exclaimed as she plopped down on her bed. "So let's see first things first unlike normal casting the words in the summoning spell are very important." Rio stated.

"Huh…But aren't words very important in normal casting…?" Okuda asked confused…She always thought the better you were in English and Literature the better you were at casting.

"Yeah I thought so to!" Akari said.

"Okay, okay let me explain how casting _really_ works. After all performing a successful Bonding Incantation will be a lot easier if you understand the basics of casting…You may want to write this down."

Manami got out her notebook and pen (The school allows pens but most teacher only grade papers written in quill) ready to jot down what Rio had to say. Akari did the same

"Ok…There are really just _two_ things you need to know. Number one: Regular casting is almost never chanted out loud, it's usually just chanting in your head and the spells that _are_ chanted out are called Grand Incantations, which are strong spells that require great focus…."

Manami furiously wrote this down so she could study it later. This would really help her in her Magic Casting Re-Ed class. Rio paused to let the girls finish writing down what she said. Once their hands stopped moving she continued, raising a second finger.

"Number two: The words in regular casting aren't important. As long as the spell has a specific meaning and or a set of keywords the incantation chant is left up to the caster's personal taste. It's not so much how eloquent your spell is or how long.

The basic jest of it is the greater meaning behind the words the better the result. So that also means caster that do use unnecessarily long words and chants have big egos and aren't really good casters. After all in battle they would probably get killed off before they even get to finish their spell." Rio explained.

Manami was in awe at the new information bestowed upon her. All her life she always thought she could never be a good caster because she wasn't good at expressing her thoughts through words…but now she knew the words didn't matter at all! What mattered was the meaning behind them! She felt a new set of motivation flow through her like wild fire! This was revolutionary!

"W-Wow! I never thought of it that way…I always thought the better you were in Literature the better you were as a caster!" Manami exclaimed.

"That's just an old wives' tale. It's not really true…well it's half-true. If you're good at Literature it means you know how to express your thoughts easier and faster, but you don't _have_ to be good at English to be a good caster." Rio explained. She then clapped her hands together. "Alright! Now that we got that out of the way time to talk about the Bonding Ritual!"

"Finally!" Akari exclaimed. "Okay so I have my rough draft right here an-.."

"Wow, wow…hold your horses. The incantation is very important but it isn't the only most important thing…"

"I-It isn't…?" Manami asked…all her books told her it was…

"Tsk, tsk…Don't tell you me forgot the other things you have to do to perform a Bonding ritual." Manami's eyes widened as she placed her fist on her open palm in realization.

"Oh! That's right!"

"Huh…what I'm confused…" Akari said.

"Okuda-chan care to explain."

"Oh okay w-well you see the bonding ritual is broken down into three things: An incantation spell, items that represent the alchemic elements and the other thing we're talking about is a vessel." Manami said.

"A vessel…?" Akari tilted her head in thought "But aren't we supposed to be the vessel?"

"W-well we are but not for this…it's more like…uhh…Maybe vessel is the wrong word not a vessel but…uhh…Rio can you explain?" Manami asked since she couldn't find the right words to explain herself.

"Think of it more like a leash. Familiars are usually very loyal to their masters but there have been cases where familiars, go against orders, betray or even kill their masters. In order to prevent this, witches need some way of controlling their familiars if they ever step out of line, enter what Manami called the vessel. The vessel can really be anything as long as it's an inanimate object to store a piece of the familiar's soul."

"Oh I see it's like a backup plan!" Akari said as she finally understood what they meant.

"Yup!" Rio replied; happy Akari finally got the jest of it.

"So the vessel can be anything?" Akari asked.

"Y-yeah as long as it's an inanimate object, most books suggest crystals and gems because they store magic and stuff better than any other thing." Manami replied.

"Oh! That gives me an idea! How about tomorrow after school we go down town and get some pretty jewelry!" Akari suggested.

"Hmm Not a bad idea I myself haven't found a vessel yet…and jewelry is more practical than let's say a book since you can have it on you 24/7." Rio said.

"Okay then its settled! Check that one off the list! What else is there? I mean besides the obvious representations of the four elements including Ether and your own magical energy." Akari asked.

"Training." Rio replied.

"Training…?" Okuda asked tilting her head.

"Yeah! It's only one of the most important things."

"Okay but training for what…?" Akari asked.

"Opening and maintaining a summoning portal takes a lot of energy. We need to train up our endurance and overall just get better at drawing energy from our magic pool." Rio explained…Manami grimaced…She forgot about that….

"Hey, Manami is everything okay…?" Akari asked.

"Huh? Oh…I um…It's nothing it's just…" Manami said her eyes down casted.

"Hey Okuda don't listen to those girls!" Rio said.

"B-But they have a point…I'm a wielder. I don't have enough magical energy in me to summon a familiar…" Manami said sadly.

"Yeah neither do I! That's why we're training!" Rio explained trying to comfort her friend.

"What happened? Who said that?" Akari asked concerned for Manami's sudden mood change.

"Some punks tried to pick on Okuda because she got the top score in alchemy class instead of them." Rio explained.

"What! Manami you should have told me! I would have hexed them to the moon if I knew!" Akari said.

"T-That's exactly why I didn't tell you…I can't just keep relaying on you to solve my problems…I can't let you fight my battles…"

"Manami…Is that how you feel…?" Akari gently asked. Okuda just nodded.

"Okuda listen up! You are a great witch! I saw how you stood up to those girls. You _can_ fight your own battles but don't try to stop us when we want to help. There's nothing wrong with relaying on others! You know what we're gonna do? We are going to train for the Bonding ritual and we are going to get the best damn familiars ever! That'll show those flower girls whose boss!" Rio said fiercely.

"Y-you know when you asked me what I wanted…I think I have my answer. I want power, the power to defend myself and my friends from anyone and anything…A-and I AM going to get the best familiar and show them that Okuda Manami is not a weak wielder!" Manami said with a purple fire burning in her eyes.

"Yeah that's the spirit! Bloodlust, bloodlust!" Rio exclaimed as she pumped her fist up and down chanting, bloodlust.

"BLOODLUST, BLOODLUST, BLOODLUST!" All three girls chanted in unison with a burning passion.

"KEEP IT DOWN!" Professor Bitch yelled from the speaking tubes. That just caused the girls to giggle.

They spent the rest of the night trying to figure out the actual incantation part of the Bonding ritual.

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 **Hope you guys liked it. I decided use Akari's real name but keep her usual green hair and pigtails. She probably cut her hair because some kid stuck gum in it and she just dyed it cause she felt like it. Also if you notice Rio usually calls Manami by her last name rather than her first like Akari that's because Rio is a newer best friend. Okuda and akari have been friends since elementary.**

 **Anyway please leave your reviews I love reading them! :)**


	3. Vessel Shopping

**Oh I am so happy you guys are liking the story so far! It really motivates me! So I hope you'll like this chapter to!**

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The sun was high in the sky gleefully looking down at the world from its blue kingdom. The cool soft wind blew gently, weaving through the green leaves of the trees. Manami stood in front of the imposing redwood entrance of the witching academy and looked down at her watch (one of the few pieces of technology that worked on campus but of course it wasn't a digital watch) waiting patiently for her friends. Classes had ended a while ago and the students were allowed to mingle and do as they pleased. Normally Manami would have gone to her room and started experimenting with chemicals and various ingredients watching the cauldron bubble, but today she was going to go down town with her friends in search for a vessel for the Bonding Ritual. She was so excited she couldn't keep the smile of her face. She loved spending time with her friends and if they could spend that time chatting over sparkly jewelry while still working to find the perfect vessel for the Bonding Ritual it was like hitting two griffins with one boulder!

"Yo, Okuda!" Okuda smiled as she saw Rio walk up towards her.

Rio wasn't a big fan of skirts, when out of uniform she usually dots on her worn blue jeans. Along with her usual jeans she wore a black and white striped shirt along with a red blazar. Manami walked over to Rio with a smile.

"Hey, Rio. Where's Akari?" Okuda asked curiously.

"Oh you know Akari always fashionably late." Rio joked.

"She couldn't find the right accessories?" Manami said with a knowing smile.

"Yup! Oh by the way you're looking awfully cute today." Rio commented.

Okuda was wearing knee high white slim jeans, a pastel floral sleeveless shirt and she was carrying a small white purse shaped like a rose.

"Oh uhh thank you." Manami said with a small blush.

"Hmm…" Rio narrowed her eyes.

"H-huh….is uhh something the matter…?" Okuda asked confused as to why Rio was suddenly acting weird.

"Yeah real cute….awfully cute….Suspiciously cute….Don't tell me….Your trying to get a discount for the vessel by dressing all cute!"

"E-eh…" Was all Manami could utter as she tilted her head to the left in confusion.

When she finally registered what Rio said she flushed.

"W-What no, no i-it's not like t-that…"

"I'm so proud of you! Finally using your feminine wilds to your advantage! Yes Okuda you are an inspiration!"

Manami could only stare as Rio happily talked about how proud she was of her…. _Well a compliment was a compliment….I guess…._

"Uhh…that's isn't..." Before she could explain herself Akari showed up.

"Hey guys!"

"Huh? Oh! Akari you're finally here." Okuda said as she saw her friend jog towards them.

"So did you make up your mind on what accessories to wear?" Rio asked with a teasing smile. Akari laughed sheepishly.

"Y-yeah…Well I decided not to wear any. I mean if we're going to a jewelry store I might as well get something I like…" Akari said with a sheepishly smile.

"Wait a minute!" Rio exclaimed, her eyes scanning Akari up and down.

Akari was wearing dark pink shorts and a pastel pink cardigan over a white shirt with a black silhouette of a cat and crescent moon. The cardigan had a cute lace collar and black shiny buttons. It was a simple and cute outfit.

"Don't tell me you're trying to get a discount to! Why didn't anyone tell me?! I would have dressed all cute to!" Rio exclaimed.

"I'm sorry what…?" Akari asked clearly confused. She glanced at Manami hoping the bespectacled girl could fill her in on what was happening Okuda merely shrugged as she had no idea what Rio was talking about either.

With that the three girls made their way down the mountain on their broomsticks; there was no way they were walking all the way down and then walking all the way back up, it would take too long. When they finally reached the base of the mountain they placed their broomsticks in the available parking space the school provided. Well it wasn't really a parking space it was more like a small room filled with lockers to place you broom in. After they locked their brooms safely inside the lockers they made the rest of the journey on foot.

They walked down by a few white colored apartments. They could hear the loud shuffling of feet in the distance. Classes were over and it was likely many office workers were either taking their leave for the day or taking a well-deserved break. There were many well-dressed men and women scurrying across the walkways to the nearest restaurants that were up ahead. Beyond the wide expanses of the restaurants was the boulevard which was lined with clothing stores, pawn shops, convenient stores, there were even a few food vendors nearby…

"Hmm…You know I just realized we have no idea where we're going…" Rio commented as her blue eyes scanned the parted sea of shops.

"W-well we can just go look for jewelry stores and go in the ones we think are potentially the best." Manami suggested.

"That's going to be a lot of walking…" Akari commented. "Good thing I wore tennis shoes!" Her optimism giving Manami and Rio strength.

The first shop they went to was small and clean. It offered various rings, but they were limited on anything else.

"Hm…Well rings are very nice and practical…." Rio said as she held her chin in thought.

"Hm...I wish they had more options though…" Akari commented as she looked down at the glass case that held various rings in various sizes and styles.

"What do you think, Manami, see anything you like?" Akari asked.

Manami looked at the shimmering rings. They were all very pretty but…nothing caught her attention.

"Hmm…not really…What about you Akari?" Okuda asked.

"Well I do like rings but I rarely wear them…" Akari replied.

"I think I would lose mine…" Okuda commented with a humble smile…

"Yeah or what if it falls down the drain…I don't know maybe we should keep looking… Hey Rio come on let's try ano-… Rio…?"

Akari looked around for the blonde and she soon found her near a small display of silver rings. Akari walked over to where Rio was standing and looked down at the display…There weren't that many rings in this particular display and it looked like all the rings there were meant for the middle finger…. _Only Rio would want to wear a ring on her middle finger…_ Akari thought as she rolled her eyes.

"O-Oh do you see one you like…?" Manami asked as she made her way towards her two friends curiously glancing down at the ring display.

"Yeah look at that one!" Rio said excitedly as she pointed to the ring she had her eye on.

Manami followed Rio's finger towards the ring she was pointing at. It was a silver ring with a tiger's eye marquise shape gem in the middle. The ring was slender and simple, what really made it stand out was the gem placed in the middle. It was probably a cat's eye gem as evident by the narrow band of light in the middle that resembled a cat's iris. The dull red almost burgundy color was what made the gem stand out against the gleaming silver body of the ring.

"Oooh…a cat's eye!" Akari squealed.

"Do you guys think I should get it?" Rio asked.

"I think it's pretty…" Manami said. "Plus cat's eyes are known to ward of lots of evil spirits it would definitely come in handy if you ever go on some sort of witch's quest. It's like an added bonus to the fact that it would be your vessel."

All gems contain a certain amount of magical energy in them, as do most things, but it's usually a small amount and barely noticeable. However, a gem's hidden magic can easily be tapped into and enhanced by magic users.

"I also hear it attracts a steady flow of money and good fortune." Akari mentioned.

"I have to get it." Rio said as her eyes briefly turned into dollar signs when Akari mentioned money. "Excuse me how much for this ring?" Rio asked a nearby employee.

"Forty-eight dollars."

"F-f-forty-eight…d-dollars…for a single ring?" Rio stuttered….

"Rio, you do know that Cat's Eye gems are expensive and so is jewelry in general?" Akari asked a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.

"Y-Yeah but…Ohh I really want it but listen. Sh! Sh! Listen! Do you hear that? It's my wallet crying in the distance."

"Rio you do know you don't have to get it….Right?" Manami clarified.

In the end Rio did buy the ring but she sadly stared at her wallet for the rest of the walk… Akari and Manami hadn't bought anything from the store and had gone looking for another jewelry store leaving Rio to wallow in her own self-pity. The next store they found was around the same size as its predecessor, but it offered a lot more variety.

"Hmm…" Manami's eyes were trained on the display case searching for something to call for her…She didn't see anything she liked. Everything in the store was rather extravagant and too gaudy for her taste…Or maybe it was too simple…? She let out a sigh and tried looking for Akari. _Hopefully Akari found something she likes._

"Hey Akari find anything you like?" Manami asked.

Akari simply shook her head.

"Nah let's try some other place."

They walked out the door of the shop the bell above chanted its farewells.

"Hey you guys left me!"

"Huh…" Both witches said in unison as they watched Rio run up to them.

"Sorry we just thought you may have wanted to be alone…" Akari said with a sheepish smile.

"You were kind of a downer, mourning over your lost money, even though you didn't have to get the ring." Okuda stated bluntly.

"Hehehe sorry. Well I'm back in the swing of things! Let's go!" Rio stated happily as she marched down the boulevard.

They tried a few more shops, but nothing caught either of the two girl's eyes. Finally they came upon an even smaller shop. It was a bit vintage and weathered down but it still retained a refined atmosphere.

"Oh look at this brooch!" Akari said happily as she gazed down at a cute daisy bouquet brooch.

The flowers' stems and small curled leaf were made from pale gold and the three daisies were cut from a honey yellow citrine. It was a really cute piece of jewelry and the bright yellow hues reflected Akari's bright and cheerful personality perfectly.

"Ah…it's really pretty…" Manami said as she looked down at the piece of jewelry. "Are you gonna get it?" She asked.

"Yeah! Hey, I'm gonna go pay for this you can keep looking around no need to rush." Akari said as she made her way to the crash register.

Manami made her way towards the glass displays, continuing her search. That's when she saw it. Her eyes caught the reflected surface of the stone and she knew this was her vessel. It was a pendant necklace. The golden chains were dainty and simple and from those chain hung a smooth round Ethiopian fire opal encircled by a Turk's head bezel. The gem naturally reflected the light. Its milky white body shimmered softly with light purple amethyst, sea green emerald and the shimmering red of garnet, it had an exceptional play of colors, but what made the opal even more beautiful were the burning flames trapped inside the precious stone. A burning yellow, sun kissed orange and light red that seemed to flicker inside like flickering flames made the opal feel mystical. It was so beautiful.

"E-excuse me…uhh…h-how much is this pendant necklace…?" Manami shyly asked pointing at the opal pendant necklace.

"Hm…Oh! That will be forty-two dollars ma'am." The employee replied glancing down at the piece of jewelry the braided girl wanted.

After paying for her vessel she made her way out the store where she found Akari and Rio waiting for her. She didn't want to keep them waiting so she hurriedly made her way towards them.

"Oh! Manami you're back find anything?" Akari asked.

"Y-yeah I did."

"Well come on let us see." Rio said curiously looking at the small bag in the bespectacled girl's petite hand.

"O-Ok…" Manam said shyly as she got out her necklace.

"Oh pretty." Rio said with a smile. She liked how the colors glimmered every so often.

"That's an Ethiopian opal isn't it?" Akari asked with a smile as she was mesmerized by the flicking flames inside the opal.

Manami nodded in response.

"Opal's are quite fragile you'll need to take good care of it and regularly wear it." Akari said.

"Don't worry about the wearing part it's her vessel she'll probably never part from it." Rio commented as Manami put her necklace on, the pendant fell right below her collarbone.

"I-I'll be sure to take extra care of it." Manami said as she gently touched the opal.

"So how much did it cost you? It must have been expensive." Rio said.

"Oh I got it for forty-two bucks." Manami replied.

"I got my brooch for forty!" Akari added happily.

A cold wind past by as Rio crouched down in agony.

"I could have saved at least six dollars!" She whined.

Akari and Okuda merely giggled at their friend's antics. All in all it was a pretty successful day they had all managed to find their vessels. Now all that was left was to train, get items that would represent the elements, and write their incantations. Manami couldn't wait to prove all her neigh Sayers wrong. Until now she had always thought she would be happy with a low-key familiar to help her as she opened up a small mystic's shop, but now she wanted to strive for something bigger because she wanted to become better. She wanted to be strong; she wanted to be an inspiration to all wielders! She wanted to be a witch her familiar could be proud to call master and even if it takes a lot of work she's determined! As long as the fire in her opal pendant stays alight so will her determination!

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 **ohhh it seems Manami is getting fired up! This was pretty short compared to the other two chapters but I hope you enjoyed it none the less! Please R &R.**


	4. Progress

**I am so happy to see that none of you have lost interest yet! I appreciate your support! Also if words are in italic that means it's either a flashback or someone's inner thoughts. If the italic words are separated with lines and are more than a sentence long it's a flashback. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Manami calmly breathed in and gently let the air filling her lungs out. She immensely hoped all her hard work would come to fruition. She's been spending most of her free time training with Rio and Akari in preparations for the Bonding Ritual. She feels like she's made big strides, with Rio as her mentor and Akari as her support she was getting better. It was difficult at first, because whenever she tried to summon her own magic she always ended up drawing energy from outside sources or not drawing any magic at all.

* * *

" _Come on, Manami! You can do it!" Akari cheered._

" _Shh!" Rio said placing a finger on her lips to shush Akari._

 _Akari stuck out her tongue in defiance. Rio just rolled her eyes before redirecting her attention back towards Manami._

 _"Okuda focus!" Rio instructed._

" _I-I'm t-trying b-but I don't think-.."_

" _That's your problem your thinking! You have to feel! Concentrate on yourself, not me or Akari or anyone else." Rio said…_

 _Manami squeezed her eyes shut and tried to control her breathing…_

" _Okay good. Don't force it…Feel the energy within you and just do it. Concentrate!"_

 _Manami's focus broke as she let out a gasp of air, she had forgotten to breath out her rosy checks evidence of that._

" _S-so I'm supposed to try really hard but not try at all?!" She cried frustrated. "R-Rio maybe I'm just not cut out for this…"_

 _Rio sighed. She didn't want to push Okuda too much, she knew Okuda was sensitive. She just had to be patient._

" _Let's take a break. We'll try again later."_

* * *

All her hard work would finally pay off! She looked at her open palm and imagined her energy coursing through her, swirling around her like misty ribbons as they gathered in her open palm. The class's walls slowly disintegrated away into inky darkness. Manmai could feel a warm heat form in her chest before it coursed throughout her veins. The floor below her vanished and she felt open and empty. She focused on nothing expect her own undefinable existence. She was in a state of concentration where she could feel the magic swirl and coil inside her like a spring winding up before being homogeneously distributed across her entire body. She could feel her fingertips twitch as magic seeped out of her fingers. She closed her eyes allowing the energy to swirl into a small ball in her hand. _I can do this. I can't let Rio's training go to waste._

She opened her eyes and she was surprised at what she saw. In her open palm was a light purple orb hovering above her hand….She did it. She had concentrated her magical energy into one place! She couldn't help but look in awe at what she had just done!

"Well done Ms. Okuda you surely have come a long way! You've made excellent strides these past few weeks." The teacher said as she glanced down proudly at her pupil.

"O-Oh uhh…t-thank you Mrs. Scarlet…" Manami said as she sadly watched her magical energy orb dissipated into nothing once her concentration was broken.

Once the teacher had given her some extra pointers like: keeping a balanced center of gravity, gaining confidence, feeling the magic within etc. she made her way around the rest of the class to see how the other students were doing.

 _Oh I can't wait to tell Rio and Akari about this…!_ Manami thought happily as she once again tried to summon her magic into a small condescended energy ball…perhaps she could make it bigger this time.

After classes Manami happily jogged her way through the long hallways of the dormitory. She was heading towards Rio's room where they would usually meet up at. They weren't training today; they would be working on their actual summoning spell. Which Okuda was excited for, but she was far more excited to show her two friends how much progress she's made in regards to drawing her magic.

"Hey, Rio." Manami said happily once she was greeted to the sight of Rio in her pajamas. Rio's PJs consisted of a white shirt with the word witch on it in cursive pink letters along with some pink sweatpants.

"Sup, Okuda! What's got you all happy?" Rio asked with a smile. She was happy that Okuda seemed very cheerful today and was curious as to why.

"Is Akari here? I want to show you guys something!" Okuda said with a wide smile as she practically hopped in place with potential energy.

"Yeah she's here. Hey Akari say hi." Rio said as she turned her head towards the inside of her room where Akari was.

"Hey!" Akari cried happily before her gaze returned to the paper she had in her hands.

"Well come on in Okuda I'm curious as to what you want to show us." Rio said.

Manami walked in and took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She opened her palm and let her magic pour through her fingertips as it swirled and coiled into a purple orb. Akari and Rio both had amazed looks on their faces as they saw what Manami had done.

"M-Manami…You… YOU DID IT!" Akari shouted gleefully as she sprang up from the floor she was sitting on to give Manami a hug.

"See I told you, you could do it!" Rio proclaimed proudly as she patted Okuda's back.

"T-Thank you Rio for believing in me…a-and thank you Akari for supporting me…I couldn't have done it without you two!" Okuda said happily, as tears brimmed the outer corners of her eyes.

All her life no matter how hard she tried she could never draw energy from her own magical pool, but now with the help of her friends who supported and believed in her she was able to do the very thing she deemed impossible.

"H-hey it's okay. We were happy to do it." Akari said, startled by Okuda's sudden tears.

"Yeah it was no big deal…" Rio added.

"But it is a big deal for me." Okuda stated. "For someone who could never draw upon their own magic up till now…It's a big deal…"

"Well that was only the first step in becoming Okuda the great and powerful!" Rio said.

Manami giggled wiping her tears away.

"Okuda the great and powerful…? No how about Okuda the great witch of poison!" Akari said which made Manami chuckle.

"And if we're coming up with names then Rio would be the _Gran Rio_." Akari said with a smile.

"Eyyyyyyyy….!" Rio said with a cheesy smile, pointing her finger guns at Akari accusingly.

"Eyyyyyyyy…!" Akari said as she mirrored Rio. Manami didn't get the pun.

"Actually….The Gran Rio…not bad… I have taught you well young Padawan..." Rio said as she stopped to contemplate the name.

Witches often went by many nicknames or grand titles that showed off their expertise or level of power. A witch usually gets to pick her name but weather it sticks depends entirely on the memorability of the witch herself. Or in some cases the witch is given a nickname by the masses.

"Let's see Akari would be the Cute Demon Tamer!" Rio said.

"Well that's assuming I even get a demon as my familiar." Akari said.

"Of course you're gonna get a demon! After all your sister got a demon, it might run in the family and little known fact if you write your incantation with a specific familiar in mind you're more likely to get that familiar." Rio stated.

"R-really..?" Manami asked.

"Yeah I read about it somewhere." Rio said dismissively.

"Hey that reminds me. I've been meaning to ask you. What familiar are you hoping to get?" Akari asked. Manami looked at Rio curiously. She had also been wondering what kind of familiar Rio wanted.

"Just take a look at my incantation it should be quite obvious what I want." Rio said as she handed Akari a piece of paper with her in-progress incantation.

Manami leaned towards Akari to get a better look at the words written down as she readjusted her glasses. The first few words were:

 _Wondering soul drawn to my ^ flame  
Burning _

_Dwelling in_ _the_ _silence disown thy darkness._

There were a few added scribbles and arrows that showed were one sentence or word should go or be moved to or should just be omitted. Rio even omitted two entire sentences. Okuda's eyes continued to read the rest of the spell.

 _Blink away the haziness in your way_

 _And lend me thy power_

 _Let our_ _foes_ _feel the heat of our fire_ _._

 _That's my desire_

 _Burn those sinners down to ash_

 _Jump forth from the flame_

 _Know the world won't be the same_

 _As you arise from the burning fire_

 _Bolder and Brighter_

That was all Rio had so far…Let's see Manami thought…. _Burning flame, fire, darkness….Hmm_ … Akari snapped her fingers in realization.

"Oh a phoenix!" She stated. Manami's lips formed a small 'o' in realization as the answer dawned upon her.

"You got it!" Rio said with a smile.

"Yeah…I could see you with a phoenix." Okuda said…Akari merely grimaced.

"All I see are burned up houses and endless fire puns." Akari said.

Manami let out a nervous laugh… _Akari may have a point…_

"H-hey….Yeah….You're right." Rio said sheepishly. "W-well at least about the pun thing…"

"Oh Akari you were working on your incantation spell to…C-can I see it I'm still having trouble with mine I thinks it's too long…and I'm having trouble rhyming…" Okuda said.

"Oh yeah sure…Here you go." Akari said as she handed her paper to Okuda.

"You know it doesn't have to rhyme." Rio said.

"I-It doesn't!?" Both Akari and Okuda shouted in suprise.

"Yeah didn't I mention that before…?"

"No, no you didn't." Okuda said with a poker face.

"W-well hahaha I'm telling you know. Rhyming isn't essential but it does make casting easier and the incantation spell doesn't have a word limit it can be as long or as short as you want it to be just as long as you have strong meaning behind the words. Just because one incantation is longer than another it doesn't make it better and vice versa." Rio explained.

"Well that would have been nice to know earlier." Akari said and Okuda nodded in agreement. Rio just let out a sheepish laugh.

"At least you told us before summer break." Okuda said with a slightly disappointed expression which made Rio's heart fracture.

"No, Okuda don't be mad…" She whined as she hugged the girl's leg.

"I'm not mad…just…disappointed." Okuda said as she let out a sigh and gazed off into the distance.

"No! Please! I'm sorry!" Akari felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead as she watched her friends, more specifically Rio's antics.

"Oh! Speaking of summer break, what are you guys going to do over the summer?" Akari asked. Rio had finally controlled herself and got up from kneeling.

"Hm…I was planning on visiting some of my European friends over the summer. You know get all relaxed before coming back here and doing the Bonding ritual." Rio said.

Senior witches always had a smaller summer break since the Bonding Ritual always took place on the Summer solstice. This was because the sun provided an extra boost to most witches' power and after a witch performed the Bonding ritual the graduation ceremony would start. After officially graduating the witch becomes their own person and they could do whatever they want with their lives. Manami was beyond nervous at the mere thought of graduation she was absolutely terrified at the idea of being sent out to into the real world with no guidance.

"What about you Manami?" Rio asked.

"H-huh..? Oh uh…I don't know I _was_ going to visit my parents but they went off to visit their Mystic's shop's sister location in America and they'll be awfully busy…." Manami admitted….

She was so focused on the Bonding ritual she had completely forgotten to make plans for the summer.

"Hm…I might just stay here for the summer and relax…or have an anxiety attack…whichever one comes first…" She mumbled.

"What no way you're staying in this old school for you summer!" Akari shouted offended by the mere thought of spending one's supposedly relaxing summer cooped up in an old mossy castle worrying over graduation.

"I'm with Akari, that's no way to treat your last few weeks of freedom." Rio said.

"Hey I just got an idea! Manami, why don't you come with me for the summer?" Akari asked as she grabbed Manami's pale hands in hers, her hazel eyes shining with excitement at the thought of spending her summer with her best friend.

"R-really I-I don't know…Weren't you going to visit your sister…?" Manami asked…She didn't want to intrude on their family reunion and Akari seemed to pick up on this.

"Yeah but you're like a sister to me so as far as I'm concerned you're part of my family as is Rio! Come on you've meet my sister before and she adores you! Come on, come on, come on! Manami please this may be our only chance to have fun together before graduation!" Akari begged. Manami sighed. She couldn't say no to Akari.

"O-okay…" Akari jumped in glee as she hugged Okuda forcing her to jump with her.

"This is going to be the best summer ever!"

" _Will_ be the best summer ever, summer break is still two months away." Rio stated.

"Aw…Rio why you gotta be a kill joy…" Akari whined.

"What! Me a kill joy? NO WAY! I'm fun! If anything I'm the opposite of a kill joy! I'm a fun loving party animal!" Kayano and Okuda just laughed.

"T-Thank you Akari I really appreciate it." Manami said with a smile.

"Hey don't just ignore me!" Rio whined…. "Pfft…Whatever let's talk about something else." Rio said with a pout.

"Oh yeah hey would you guys mind giving me some feedback on my incantation." Akari said.

"Oh yeah…" Okuda said moving closer to Rio so she could see the written down incantation on the paper.

 _Heed my command and make my dreams real._

 _You who are trapped in a cage of madness I, the summoner,^_ _have the key to your chains (omit here)_ _.  
Will give you the key to your chains_

 _Proclaim yourself as my familiar_

"Hmmm…Okay how about instead of this sentence: " _make my dreams real."_ You write catalyze my dreams." Rio said levitating a quill from off her desk and using it to modify Akari's incantation.

"Hmmm I-I don't think you have to call yourself the summoner i-it's kind of a given….maybe you can replace that with y-your master…I hear demons respond better to people with take charge attitudes and strong willpower…"

"Yeah I hear they have a real fetish for power houses!" Rio stated bluntly. Manmai flushed…

"T-that's n-not Oh…Whatever…" Manami said with a sigh, she couldn't reason with Rio. Rio just grinned teasingly before continuing to read the rest of the spell.

 _So I may set the wings of your soul free so you_ _can^_ _fly  
_

 _Our time has come your salvation has begun._

 _Even if darkness tries to take you I will become the light that destroys the dark you see_

 _Even if the light tries to annihilate you I will shield thee_

 _I won't let even god take you from me_

 _So emerge and swear you allegiance!_

"Is that all?" Rio asked.

"Yeah, do I need to change anything else?" Akari asked; she feared her spell was far too short.

"Hmmm I don't think so but this is giving me more of a flügel vibe than a demon…" Rio commented.

"Y-Yeah but aren't demons considered a subspecies of flügel or was it the other way around…?" Okuda pondered.

"Eh whatever I'm sure as long as you direct your words towards a demon audience you'll have a high chance of getting a demon. Perhaps even a winged demon considering how much you reference flight and wings." Rio said. "Well, Okuda, your turn."

"H-Huh…Oh yeah…uhh here it is!" Manami said as she fished around for her rough draft.

 _Allow me to destroy my weakness in exchange for strength_

 _I don't care whether it's bliss or pain that I gain._

"Hmm…what about instead of: I don't care. Say: it matters not…" Rio suggested as she crossed out the phrase.

 _Because I wish to be stronger_

 _To protect all whom I love, so lend me thy power._

 _Swallow_ _all your_ _any doubt let your bloodlust cry out_

"Instead of saying: Whom I love. Say: To protect and defend…" Akari said as she modified the spell.

"Is that all you got so far?" Rio asked.

"Y-Yeah I still can't think up of a good ending and I was really worried I was making my spell too long." Manami said.

"No way it's great! Who knows you might get something just as strong as a demon familiar!" Akari said.

"Y-You think so?" Manami asked humbly. Akari nodded as did Rio.

"We're sure of it."

Akari took her leave early. She wanted to inform her sister that she was bringing a friend over during the summer and since she already finished her spell there was no reason for her to stay up late. Rio and Manami both told Akari to have a good night's rest because tomorrow they would be restarting their training. Akari reassured them she would as long as they didn't stay up too late either and after she left the girls immediately began to work on finishing their spells.

* * *

 **I hope you guys like the story and if you have any help criticism or ideas for the story itself please feel free to share them in the comments. I would like to know if I'm not making the characters too OOC ish...I don't think I am but I would like to hear your opinion. Thanks for reading my story and tune again later! BYEEEEEE!**


	5. Filler

**Sorry for the wait! But I hope you like this even though it's just filler but next chapter won't be a filler! Oh by the way don't mean to crush all yalls hopes but the summoning ritual aint happening for a good amount of chapters. On a side note the incantations aren't set in stone yet and i'm gonna be taking inspiration from the Assclass cards in regards to Nagisa and Karma's demon forms. Nagisa is differently going to have snake attributes.**

* * *

Akari was over thrilled at the notion that Manami, her best friend, would be able to spend her summer with her and Aguri. Akari dug around her pudding shaped purse for her traversal communication projection orb or T.C.P.O for short also known as The Pearl. It was round and it resembled a round compact eyeshadow container with an alchemic star in the middle. Finally fishing it out of her bag she opened it. The small crystal orb was positioned very much like a pearl was in a clam. The orb levitated upwards like a rain drop falling backwards, it very much resembled a perfectly round pearl when hovering in mid-air.

" _Rogans Pro Communicationem Pythonissam Aguri Yukimura Signum Ipsum."_

The orb started glowing, a translucent white. A light beam shot forth and projected Aguri's smiling face in full color and high definition. She was still like Akari remembered; short black hair with side swept bangs that fell just above her light brown eyes and a kind smile.

"Hey there Akari-chan! How's my favorite little sister doing?" Aguri asked with a smile.

"Aguri I'm you ONLY sister."

Aguri giggled at her little sister's statement.

"Actually I wanted to call you for some time." Akari confessed.

Aguri's fiancée, Shiro, rarely let anyone come in contact with Aguri….Akari hated Shiro… He was abusive, condescending, and manipulative….Not knowing what was going on and being unable to contact her sister always left Akari worried for Aguri's wellbeing, she knew Shiro had violent tendencies.

"Is… _he_ anywhere around here?" Akrari hesitantly asked referring to Aguri's fiancée. _Aug to think that jerks going to be my sister's husband!_

"Who…? Oh! Right, no you don't have to worry about him ever again." Aguri said with a giant smiled….Aguri was always a very cheerful happy go lucky woman, but today she seemed to be even more overjoyed than usual.

"Huh? What do you mean…? And you look so happy to? Don't tell you finally got rid of the bastard!" Akari exclaimed happily.

"Oh he wasn't that bad…" Aguri said a she waved her hand dismissively.

"No he was worse!" Akari exclaimed.

"Well yeah…actually you see Koro-kun got tired of seeing me get hurt all the time and he kicked the jerk out of my house! He's been gone for some time now actually and I've never been happier! I don't have to worry about bruises anymore!

I've been meaning to tell you but I've been busy trying to steady myself economically…I've been taking up more job requests to get myself back on my feet and….Akari…? Are you okay?" Aguri asked her eyes filled with concern as she saw tears slide down her little sister's face.

"I-I'm fine…I-it's just I'm so happy!" Akari said with a smile. "I'm gonna have to thank that Koro guy for saving you….Wait…! Is this Koro guy your new b-boyfriend..?!"

Aguri blushed.

"O-oh! No….Remember Koro is the name of my familiar…uh…and I-I mean he's cute and kind and…b-but he's just my familiar!" Aguri stuttered. Akari grinned.

"Hehe you like him….~" Akari teased.

"W-wha…? No that's not…"

"You know it's not unheard of for a witch to marry her familiar~" Akari continued to tease.

"M-Marry..?! Oh no I…it's all happening so fast…I uh…" Akari giggled as she saw her sister turn a deep shade of red.

"Well yeah you got a point there. After all I got to give this Koro guy my blessing first!" Akari stated.

"Oh yeah! You still haven't formally met my familiar have you?" Aguri realized. "Well I'm sure you two will be able to bond over the summer when you come over." Aguri said with a smile as her red blush died down.

"Oh….yeah about that…"

"Huh…? Is something wrong…?" Agruri asked.

"Oh no, no! Everything's fine! It's just the reason I called you was to ask you a question."

"A question…? Sure what is it?"

"Well you know Manami, right?"

Aguri nodded in response fondly remembering the shy witch.

"Well her family is away on some business thing and she didn't have anywhere to go for the summer so I thought 'hey, you should come hang out with me!' so long story short I invented her to join us for the summer….Is that okay…?" Akari nervously asked.

"Of course it is! Oh it's been a while since I've seen her, how's she doing?" Aguri asked.

"She's doing fine…No better than fine! She's made some great progress with her casting magic!"

"That's great."

"So it's fine if she stays with us for the summer?" Akari asked again…just for some validation.

"Yes of course, she's a family friend." Agrui said with a smile.

"Great! I'll tell her the good news!"

"Okay, see you later!"

"Bye."

"Bye." Akari said as she waved goodbye before the 'pearl' shut of the light beam that projected the image of her sister.

 _I can't wait to tell Manami the good news._ Akari thought happily as she got ready for bed. She had promised Rio and Manami she would get a good night's rest today because tomorrow they would be training some more for the Bonding Ritual. The last thought Akari had was: _I hope I get a demon as powerful and as kind as Aguri's…_

* * *

Akari lazily opened her eyes and let out a yawn before stretching her arms up towards the ceiling. She smacked her lips together trying to create some more saliva to re-hydrate her slightly dry mouth. She squinted; her eyes still trying to adjust to the bright room. Once she was no longer blinded by the light she got out of bed and went to fix her hair.

She idly walked down the dormitory's hallway, slightly dragging her feet across the long narrow red rug that lay over the dark chocolate wooden floors. She was heading towards Okuda's room intending to eat breakfast with her friend in the dining room before class.

"Oh..! Good morning Akari." Manami said with a cheerful smile as she exited her room door.

"Morning." Akari responded happily. "Want to go get a bite together?" She asked.

"Sure. That's sound nice." Manami responded with a smile.

Once they started walking a comfortable silence loomed over them lovingly. Akari decided to initiate some small talk, because although she enjoyed the comfortable silence she also enjoyed socializing with her bestie more.

"Hey okay…Sooo I called my sister last night and she said she was totally cool with having you over for the summer." Akari informed Okuda.

"R-Really… Oh wow! Thank you so much…" Okuda said her eyes gleaming with happiness and excitement.

"Hey no problem!" Akari said as they sat down on one of the long dining tables. "Also I just realized how perfect all of this is!"

"What do you mean?" Okuda asked as she carefully reached out for a floating dish and placed it down on the table as eating utensil flew over and set themselves down on the table as well….Looks like its omelets today.

"Well remember how I told you Aguri has a demon familiar." Akari said as she mirrored Manami's previous actions.

Manami simply nodded in response as she began chewing her food letting out a hum to signify her yes.

"Well if we _do_ get demons as familiars then Aguri would be able to help us. She's had that Koko..err… Kako…that demon familiar guy for ages, she probably knows all kinds of tips and tricks. You know so our demon familiar doesn't turn against us and maybe she could teach us how to synchronize." Akari said before turning her attention to her fluffy omelet.

"Y-you really think your sister can teach us Synchronization." Manami asked wide eyed after she swallowed her food.

Synchronization was the act of synchronizing your magic with your familiar's magic to create a strong hybrid of magical energy. It can only be achieved when a familiar and a witch have a strong close bond. It's something very hard to do, because not only does it require the strong bond between the witch and her familiar, but also strong magic and patience.

"I think she could at least help us by giving us tips don't you think." Akari said after taking a bite from her warm omelet.

"Hmm…You have a point…" Okuda said before giving her full attention to the omelet.

After breakfast the two girls made their way up the hill on their broom sticks and then put their broomsticks away in their provided lockers.

"Oh hey I just remembered something!" Akari exclaimed as she and Okuda walked down the castle's hallway towards their alchemy class.

"What is it?" Okuda asked.

"There's going to be a fair down town celebrating the town's creation!" Akari said.

"Wow…really? D-do you maybe want to go?" Manami asked shyly.

"Yeah sounds like fun….maybe after training you, me, and Rio can all go enjoy ourselves at the fair." Akari said.

"Yeah I would love to do that." Manami said with a smile.

She knew she should probably be working on her incantation but a break now and then would be good...After all the Bonding Ritual wouldn't matter if she died of sleep deprivation or over exhaustion.

"Okay let's tell Rio at lunch time." Akari said just as the teacher came…Well more like made an entrance.

The spot behind the teacher's desk was filled with fuming smoke that soon dissipated to reveal their teacher standing there.

"All right students today we'll be talking about…" And so class started.

* * *

"A fair…?" Rio asked curiously.

"Yeah, down town. We were wondering if you wanted to go…you know end training a little early and have a little bit of fun." Akari explained.

"Eh…! Sure why not! I mean no fun and no play makes for a very boring life." Rio said.

"Yes! This is going to be fun!" Akari said delighted.

"Yeah but we're going to have to work extra hard tomorrow!" Rio said. Akari just groaned.

* * *

Once training ended all three girls went to their rooms to go get changed and later met up at the base of the mountain. Okuda waited patiently for her two friends to arrive. She dug around her purple silk purse for her wand, she wanted to make sure she was carrying it, she just felt safer with it. Once Okuda found it she let out a sigh of relief.

"Hey Manami!" Akari greeted as she made her way out of the locker room.

Akari was wearing a cute white blouse with small black polka dots and a yellow pleated knee high skirt with a bow on the front. On the right side of her chest she wore her citrine vessel.

"Oh! Hey, Akari you got here fast." Okuda said referring to how the young green haired witch often took a long time deciding what accessories to wear. Akari smiled sheepishly.

"I uhh see you're wearing your vessel to." Akari commented trying to change the subject. Okuda glanced down fondly at her opal pendant.

"Yeah…I really like it… besides I have to wear it often otherwise the stone might fracture." Okuda said as she gently touched the opal.

"…Oh anyway did you see Rio on your way down?" Okuda asked.

"Hmm…I don't think so….I could have just missed her…"

"Hey!"

Okuda jumped up in surprise as she felt the light weight of a warm hand being placed on her shoulder.

"Oh hey speak of the devil." Akari said as she waved hello. Okuda immediately relaxed once she knew who it was.

"P-please don't startle me like that Rio…" Okuda said. Rio just grinned.

"Ahh…But you're so cute when your startled you look like a cute little bunny rabbit~" Rio teased. Okuda just pouted in response.

The trio walked around the fair playing games and sightseeing. The first game they played was a shooting game.

"Aug! This things rigid!" Akari cried as she failed to shoot down the little target.

"Would you like to play again little girl or should I get your mommy?" The booth guy said with a patronizing smile….Akari turned a light shade of red.

"…I'll show you little girl…!" She grumbled angrily as she began channeling her magic….

"A-akari…!" Okuda said cautiously as she immediately noticed the shift in atmosphere.

Akari didn't heed Okuda….It would only be one small spell….She focused her energy on the BB gun bullet. Her magic began swirling and twisting around it like a coil….She opened her fiery eyes…aimed…and FIRED! It shot out with more force than anticipated! It shot straight through the target leaving a small hole in the center and ripped past the tent….Akari stared wide eye… _opps…_

"W-what….was..?" The booth guy cried…. _it couldn't be…magic…?!_ He thought….. "Well uhh…" He cleared his throat. "The target is still up…So you lose and I'm going to have to ask you to leave now….No magic allowed!"

Akari scowled and she let out a huff of annoyance.

"Come Manami we're clearly not wanted here." Akari said.

"S-Sorry about my friend…" Okuda apologized as she ran after her annoyed friend.

* * *

"Hey what's with lettuce…?" Rio asked as she came back from the shooting booth with a handful of prizes.

"Oh Come on! You won!" Akari cried frustrated.

"Uhh…Akari tried using magic and got u-us kicked out…" Okuda explained. "Y-you know Akari you really shouldn't use your magic for such things especially when you're around Normals…We don't really have a great reputation with these folks…" Okuda lectured. Akari sighed.

"I know…" She said with a pout.

"Bummer…here you can have this one." Rio said as she handed Akari a small plushy snake. Akari merely mumbled a quiet thank you as she begrudgingly took the plushy.

"Come on cheer up let's go to another booth." Okuda said shyly, hoping to cheer up her friend.

After that the three girls went walking around the Fair enjoying carnival foods like caramel apples, popcorn, cotton candy, and they even got some honeycomb toffee for Okuda. They played a few more carnival games, rode a few rides, and had an overall good time…The only time their fun was ruined was when their highly trained ears caught the whispering sounds of gossip the Normals were saying….Apparently the booth guy from the shooting game had made sure to 'warn' everyone about the three witches….

Their constant stares ranged from disgust to fear….it really put a damper on their otherwise good mood….Okuda couldn't help but feel ashamed of her magic….If only she didn't have magic…maybe then those people wouldn't be looking at her that way…

"Hey I'm gonna get some more popcorn, want any?" Rio asked.

"Naah I'm good…What about you Okuda..?" Akari asked.

"N-No I'm fine…" She responded absentmindedly…

As soon as Rio left, Okuda and Akari found a small bench to sit in….The whispers grew louder….They weren't walking so the chatter kept ringing inside Okuda's aching ears….She couldn't move….She wanted to run…to hide….

Witch…

Evil…

Horrible…

 _Stop it….why are you saying those things…?!_ There words swirled around Okuda looming overhead like a heavy stormy cloud.

Criminal…

What are they doing here…?

Terrorist…

 _I'm not hurting anyone…!_ Their words were snaking around her, squeezing her heart tightly. Her breaths came out in short harsh bursts…

Damn witches…

They should have stayed up in that creepy ass castle….

" _S-stop_ …" She mumbled out loud her eyes trained on the ground which seemed to be spinning.

"What was th-…" Akari froze in mid-sentence….

"A-akari…?!" Okuda cried out confused….Everything around her had stopped moving…stopped talking…just stopped…. _No, no, no…! I-I d-didn't mean..! I take it back I-I..!_

 _"Tempus deduc quasi torrentem semper supra usque ad cataracta…"_

"-..That you said Manami..?" Akari asked as if nothing happened….Okuda blinked

"H-huh….I….R-Rio…?"

She turned to face Rio who was walking towards them popcorn in hand. "

I-I'm sorry I didn't…I.." She bowed her head apologetically…

"What's wrong Manami…?" Akari asked…

"It's fine Okuda; besides your magic only affected the people near your immediate area…"

"I didn't mean to cast…I-I just…" Okuda said as she held her slightly shaking shoulders…This wasn't the first time something like this has happened…It has happened many times in the past….and her mind was bringing her back to that time…to the time she was small, defenseless…scared…angry….sad…

Akari's eyes grew wide….Okuda had unknowingly cast a spell…It wasn't unheard of for witches to cast spells unknowingly…

"Oh Okuda…" Akari said gently as she placed a comforting hand on Okuda's shoulder….She had a good reason to suspect that the constant hushed whispers of the Normals were what caused Okuda to cast her spell.

Unconscious spells only happen when the witch is experiencing a strong emotion…mainly a primal emotion like fear, lust, anxiety, or something of that nature….Unconscious spells can be very powerful if the emotion the witch is experiencing is a very powerful one…to be able to cast a time spell like that….Okuda must really have felt horrible….

"Come on…you didn't hurt anyone…Let's go get some more honeycomb toffee…Okay…?" Akari said reassuringly Okuda merely nodded.

"Okuda…I just have one thing to say to you." Rio said solemnly…

"W-what is it…?"

"I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" She cried out as she hugged the petite witch…Okuda flushed at the sudden contact…

"I-I…w-what…?"

"Casting a time spell is a difficult thing to do and yet you did so unconsciously! That must mean you have immense potential!" Rio cried as she rubbed her rosy cheeks against Okuda's red cheeks…

"I-I uh….well this isn't the first time something like t-this has happened…" Okuda said sheepishly…

"Oh I can't wait for training tomorrow!" Rio said excitedly…. "Hm….It's seems you have more power when you're experiencing strong emotions…Well yeah duh….that's most witches….but you seem to like draw upon energy….like a vessel…and a very good vessel at that…not only drawing on your magic but others too! That's amazing…"

Rio kept on rambling as both Okuda and Akari could feel a sweat bead roll down their heads….But they were both secretly happy Rio was able to lift up the somber mood.

* * *

 **note: I just used google translation for the latin translation! Xp**


	6. Flashback

**this chapter does have character death be warned! I don't think it's too gory or anything but if you guys think its too explicit I will bump up the rating just to be on the safe side! Vote for it in the reviews section after reading this chapter. Should I bump up the Rating yes or no?**

* * *

It was the last few days of the third week of elementary school. It was a new school Manami had recently just moved to. The sun was out, idly gazing downwards from the blue sky as fluffy white clouds slowly moved by. Manami was making her way towards the school, her two braids swinging behind her as she walked. She had a small smile on her young face. She was excited for science class, today they would be learning about potential energy and it just so happens that in that very same class she's managed to….'befriend' a classmate….She didn't know if she could really call this person her friend seeing as they only had a little over three weeks to really get to know each other….But still having a friendly acquaintance must have counted for something!

Manami was so very happy for school! It was her first time going to a public school! She's been homeschooled all her life up until till now. Which wasn't bad she loved learning about potions and witches from her mom and dad…though she did wonder why they asked her not to talk about that stuff in school…Maybe it was because that kind of stuff was too advance for other kids to understand…? They also warned her about…something…they called it her foreseeable awakening…? Okuda didn't know what they meant by that…but she had promised to be very careful! Her parents had explained…(recently explained) that not all people knew or had magic…Which was a baffling concept for Okuda, who had lived all her young life working with potions and runes and magical equipment.

They made it a point to explain to her that 'normals' as they called them, where often kind, rational people but when things beyond their understanding showed up they became primitive and angry, so one must always be careful around them so as not to offend or scare them. Okuda remembers her mother's lecture:

"Manami, honey listen you were born with a great advantage in life, you were born to become a witch. But don't you ever think that makes anyone inferior to you. Everyone has their own advantages, their own skills. Some people have math, others English, and some have sports as their special skills, so people who are good at math, good at talking, good at sports or people who can use magic…we all are of great value no one is superior.

Just because someone can run a hundred miles a day that doesn't make them better than the person that solves a hundred math problems per day… You can't place more value in one thing over the other. Our abilities and skills, our powers are as dangerous as knives and you should never point your knife at another person or threaten them. Do you understand?" Her mother explained

Manami had nodded and happily replied that pointing sharp objects at people was wrong. After that she went off to her first day in school and now she was her three weeks later happily making her way to school.

"Good morning Okuda-san!"

"G-good morning, Arakawa-chan…." Manami said with a shy smile as she waved good morning to her newly acquired friendly acquaintance.

Arakawa, Sakura. She was taller than most girls and she had pretty short brown hair that went down just past her chin. Sakura was a very energetic character which was in complete contrast to Okuda's quieter self…but they complemented each other nicely. Okuda kept Sakura in check and Sakura helped Okuda become more self-asserting. It was a beneficial relationship.

"Hey did you hear about that child star that turned out to be a… _witch_?"

"Hm…n-no…I don't really listen to pop news…" Manami admitted sheepishly as they walked down the hallway together towards their homeroom.

After school they would usually say their goodbyes and head home but today was different. Sakura said there was an ice cream shop nearby, said it was one of her favorites and she wanted to show Okuda. Manami pondered the idea…Ice cream sounded nice…and she could always eat it on the way home. She agreed and both girls went to the ice cream shop. It was located just down the street and around the corner. Sakura insisted she pay….Manami promised she would repay her. Sakura got triple chocolate and Okuda got plain vanilla with caramel drizzle.

As they walked back, innocently eating their ice cream Okuda tripped. She had stumbled forwards and bounced of someone and when she did she saw her delicious ice cream had covered the stranger she bumped into. She looked up at the stranger. He was taller and older than her…maybe a high schooler… Manami gulped and flushed pink in embarrassment.

"Okuda you okay?" Sakura asked as she placed a comforting hand on the petite girl's shoulder.

"I-I I'm s-so sorry, mister!" She stuttered as she bowed apologetically her braids swinging forth from the momentum.

The high schooler just growled in annoyance…He didn't like annoying brats…She probably did it on purpose and the fact that his two other friends were snickering didn't help cool his temper….!

"You should be! Don't let it happen again, brat!" He scorned as he glared down at the girl.

The girl shrank down and gazed at the ground with shamefully red cheeks, her facial expression was somewhere in between a scared and sad expression… The high schooler just let out 'tch' and started walking away.

"Hey! You can't talk to her like that, it wasn't just her fault!" Another girl yelled as she sheltered the plum-haired girl in her arms with a protective scowl.

"What did you say brat!?" He said as he looked down at the brat who had the nerve to say anything to him _._

"I said you're to blame to for not being aware of your surroundings! I would think that someone with huge ears like yours would be able to hear me!" She exclaimed angrily as Manami vainly tried to stop Sakura from making the situation worse.

Manami could feel the anger wafting off the guy and she could feel the annoyance of the other two high schoolers who were now blocking their exits.

"Sakura…stop..!" Manami hissed as she tugged on the girl's sleeve hoping she would stop.

"You either got guts or no brain; either way you're not gonna have either for long!"

In a flash Sakura's neck was in the guy's large hand, her small frame was easily lifted off the ground, her feet dangling in midair. Manami had been pushed back in the process; she stumbled backwards before regaining her balance. The two other male high schoolers had created a circle preventing any form of escape entrapping them in the narrow walkway.

"S-stop! Leave Sakura alone!" Manami cried as she tugged at the older male's uniform shirt hoping he would come to his sense… He just growled. His hold on the 'sakura' girl's neck tighten slightly out of irritation.

"Annoying brat get out of here! You two need to learn respect!" He said as he slapped the short plum haired kid out of the way with his free hand.

Manami gingerly held her stinging cheek as she fell backwards on her butt, she tried getting up again but one of the high schoolers placed a heavy hand on her shoulders his salty breath gazing over her ear.

"Hey glasses you make a real cute loli." He whispered as his grip on her shoulder tightened. Manami didn't know what that meant but she did know that the way he was holding her shoulder hurt. She winced.

" _O-O-Okuda…!"_ Sakura wheezed out as she vainly tried to pry the high schooler's hand open.

Her eyes started to roll to the back of her head as her flushed skin turned deathly pale with a tint of purple. She was gagging and sputtering out. Her mouth hanging wide open gasping for air like a fish out of water, her pretty brown eyes slowly hazing over as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"S-stop it!" Manami cried as she tried shaking off the guy's hand off her shoulder, but he just pushed her down to the ground holding her down as he gripped onto her braids.

"Feisty aren't we…" The guy commented.

Manami gazed up from the hard concrete floor her hot tears streaming down her face and falling onto the ground….The guy had forced her down so quickly that her head had roughly hit the concrete. She could feel her temples pulsate with pain as the world around her turned fuzzy and the boy's cursing and Sakura's gagging muffled into static. Her nose twitched when she suddenly smelled smoke. She forcibly turned her head towards the smell and saw the third guy idly standing by as he lit a cigar.

Why was he just standing there! Her friend was getting chocked to death! _Why aren't you helping her! Stop smoking and help her!_ Okuda glared at the lighter in the boy's hand as he tried to light his cigarette. _How dare you! Is your cigarette worth more than Sakura! Nothing is worth more than Sakura! I want you to help her…!_ She glanced over at Sakura who was nearing her last breath…her anger was flaring up burning hot and boiling over. She glanced over at the guy with heated eyes, staring at his lighter as its hot burning flame flickered on and off.

…. _I want….!_

 _I want….! I want you…!_

 _I want you to_ … _to_

….

"… _ **burn**_ _…"_

* * *

The red and blue lights swirled around in speedy rotation. The loud beeping sound of the sirens warned spectators to stay as far away from the area as possible. Police cars encircled the area in a closed off ring. The policeman with their crisp blue uniforms swarmed the area as they gazed down at the horrifying scene before them. Two girls were wrapped in pure white blankets each holding a cup of water…the pure irony of the white was not lost on the young plum haired girl as she avoided looking at the 'scene'….but the wind refused to let her forget…she could still smell it….the lingering smoke and crisp black scent of burned flesh….it oddly smelled like an ashy tray of cigarettes….

"..S-Sakura…a-are you ok-…" Okuda tentatively asked as she gingerly made her way towards the pale faced Sakura.

"Don't touch me!" She hissed as she swatted Okuda's hand away her voice crackling like dying fire.

Her eyes were no longer hazy but they were still very red and puffy. Her lips were still tinted a light blue and her skin was still sickly pale…though Okuda wasn't sure if it was because of the chocking or because of Sakura's newly acquired fear for her…. The glaring red scar that coiled around Sakura's neck and flared up across her right cheek gave Okuda enough proof that Sakura was indeed scared of her.

"…Okuda….just…don't…I know you're a witch…" Sakura spoke softly so as not to be overheard. Okuda clutched onto the blanket more tightly as she wrapped it around herself protectively….

"I-I…"

"Stop…!" Manami sealed her lips shuts as she watched her friend's shoulders shake.

"L-Look I'm grateful y-you saved me…b-but…."

It was at that moments that Manami realized…She was a witch with magical powers…powers that were connected to her emotions and feelings…If she ever lost control of her feelings….if she ever lost control of her temper like that again….she could hurt someone…she could hurt a lot of people…she could hurt the people she cares about…

"I-I understand…" She mumbled quietly as she walked away her bangs covering her heavy eyes…

It was at that moment Manami understood what her mother was trying to say….Witches are like normal people…normal people who constantly wield knives…. they are people who are burdened with the curse of magic…and they must take that burden and make it into an asset...It's a double edged knife, one that can help you but also hurt you or others around you….So they [witches] must always remain kind, so they may help the innocent, they must have integrity, so they never try and use their powers to get ahead, they must remain in control of their feelings, so their magic doesn't go haywire…they must never use their powers on Normals….ever….it's wrong to point sharp things at people….

 _I will never lose control of my feelings like that again…I can't afford to hurt a loved one…I can't let things get to me…I just always have to remain nice, quiet, and passive….like I've always have…I can't let my emotions become a hazard…emotions are as complicated and as messy as words are…so you should never mix your magic with your feelings because there is no set result…there is no definite answer to what might happen…_

The next day she didn't go to school….Okuda's parents found out about the incident and they immediately began filing paperwork to send Okuda to the nearest witching school available, they feared what people would do to their little witch if she kept going to a Normals' school….but until then Okuda quietly finished her last few weeks in school….avoiding everyone…especially a tall girl with short brown hair and burn marks.

* * *

Mother Shipton's elementary school of witchery…It was a tall stone structure hidden away in the deep green forest. It was a private school…most witching schools were…. Manami quietly tip toed her way to her new class….but the wooden floors still creaked every once in a while…

She was glad that she wasn't the only new kid…there was another new kid that would be introducing themselves with her…She was short like Manami and she had long wavy black hair that fell down to her elbows. She was wearing the school's uniform which was just a simple black dress that fell to the knees with a white collar, a black witch hat, and a red ribbon tied around the neck….

"Good morning my name's Yukimura, Akari I hope we can become great friends! Please take care of me." She said cheerfully as she slightly bowed to the class when she was done introducing herself….

She curiously turned to Manami with a happy smile and curious hazel eyes. Manami gulped…the whole class was now staring….Her knees felt weak and she felt like gravity had increased… _No…no stay calm breathe….don't let your emotions get out of control!_ _1…2…3…4..._

"Uh…G-good morning….my name's Okuda M-Manami…p-please take care of me!" She said as she bowed politely hoping no one could see her flushed cheeks.

With that her new life as a witch started.

"Hey, Okuda-san, want to eat together during lunch?" Yukimura asked when the two girls took their seats.

"H-Huh…? I…"

"Come on, us newbies gotta stick together!" She said with a happy-go-lucky smile…

"O-Ok…" Manami replied with a small shy smile…

At least her new witching life was off to a good start…


	7. To sis's house we go

**I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVEEEEEE! Happy almost Halloween (unless your reading this during Halloween or after) Sorry for the delay school and stuff! ;p but yeah the story is not dead yet but it will take a while for karma and nagisa to show up so don't hold your breathe!**

* * *

Okuda idly stared out the translucent plane window; silently observing the soft cotton white clouds that rolled slowly pass her…She was happy she was finally able to relax in the airplane, since earlier this morning was such an adrenalin rush. Akari forgot to set her alarm the previous day and they both woke up late. They had to hurriedly drag all their luggage with them, get a taxi, drop off their luggage, go through security, and find their plane before it took off without them…They luckily made it on time…albeit it a bit worn out and frazzled. Okuda let out a content sigh as she leaned her head back against the chair enjoying the silent humming of the plane engine. She was so very glad Akari had invited her over for the summer seeing as she would have just spent her entire summer sitting in a corner waiting anxiously for the bonding ritual.

" _Kraa..huh…Kraahuh…..Kraa…"_ Okuda giggled. Akari was snoring… _mm…perhaps a little nap would be good…_ Okuda thought as she gently rested her head on the headrest of the seat before nodding off.

* * *

Koro was impressed. In all his life he has never seen a creature move that fast. (Which was saying something because he was arguably the fastest thing alive) His onyx eyes idly followed his master's fast movements as a small amused smile etched its way onto his face.

"Uh….W-wait! No it's not symmetrical now!" Aguri cried as she made a bee line towards the asymmetrical pillows.

Koro smiled, finding his master's antics entertaining to watch. Aguri had been up very early in the morning cleaning and organizing everything, it was almost as if she was possessed. Now why was she doing this? Well her sister and her sister's close friend were coming over for the summer and Aguri wanted everything to be just right. Koro wondered if humans were aware that the rode to perfection is a similar road towards insanity.

Aguri was now balancing on top of a white stool frantically dusting the top shelves….the wobbling feet of the stool and Aguri's constant shift in weight told him that she would surely fall and hurt herself if she kept dusting like that.

"Come on Koro! Don't just sit there; help me out…Go clea-…!" Before she could finish her request she fell, as predicted. Aguri let out a yelp in surprise as she clenched her eyes shut awaiting impact. Luckily Koro was able to catch her. Aguri hesitantly opened her eyes. She blinked.

"Oh…Uh…hehe….sorry guess I was a bit reckless…" She said sheepishly. "Thanks."

"It seems as though you've fallen for me, Aguri-sama." Koro said with his ever-present kind smile, his onyx eyes twinkling playfully.

"Well then, it's lucky you managed to catch me." She responded as her cheeks slightly flushed, not from the close contact but from the fact that she normally wasn't that clumsy.

"You are indeed very luck. What if I hadn't caught you?" He asked gently scolding her. Aguri giggled.

"What do you mean of course you would've caught me you're the fastest thing alive, and not to mention my loyal familiar." Agrui confidently stated with a smile as Koro set her down.

"Oh but you forget I'm a demon and demons are untrustworthy, horrible dark creatures." Koro said trying to sound menacing but his playful undertone gave him away.

"Wha…you're a demon…? I _completely_ forgot _._ " Aguri said playfully as she dusted herself off, reaching out to grab her fallen duster. "You're not a dark creature, you're my friend and my loyal familiar, I knew you would catch me….So I knew I could be a bit reckless, because you would always be there to save me." Aguri said with a gentle smile. Her tone changing from playful to seriously genuine.

Koro could feel his heart squirm within his chest. He wondered if she knew the power she held over him….He was unsure if he should clue her in on that little fact….on the little fact that he viewed her as more than a master, more than an ally…more than a friend and that he would gladly do whatever she so commanded….no….it would be best to keep that a secret. After all she was merely a human. Humans are fickle creatures. It's a well-known fact. Who's to say she won't fall in love with another man….? Who's to say her feelings for him would remain the same? So with this in mind he managed to fight back the creeping blush and maintain his cool, calm, ever smiling mask on.

"Oh~ And how would you possible know that?" He asked coyly.

"Hmm…Call it women's intuition." She replied.

"Well, then just be more careful. I can't be going around catching you every single time you fall."

"You make it sound like I'm constantly tripping over myself." Aguri said with a childish pout.

"Well you are, take right now for example. You're running around tripping over your own thoughts, words, and stumbling around the house cleaning like a mad women. I know you're excited to see your sister again, I'm excited too, but you have to calm down. Relax. You're over complicating things and over working yourself and as you're familiar it's my duty to make sure you are one hundred and ten percent healthy and safe. What kind of familiar would I be if I let you die of over exhaustion, a terrible one that's what!"

"Okay, okay. I get it." She let out a yawn. "You're right….I'll go take a quick nap…." She said like an obedient child, her exhaustion only now catching up to her. "Thanks Koro….for looking out for me…." She said gratefully.

"No problem! As your familiar your health and safety is my number one priority!"

With a final nod Aguri made her way to her bedroom, happily collapsing on her soft bed. As soon as Aguri was out of sight Koro's smile slowly fell from his face. _Your health and safety is my number one priority….I can't have you get hurt….I know you don't like it when I resort to violence, but I'm doing this for your own good….it'll be quick I promise….it's not like you have to know…It's better that you don't…._

… _Shiro…._ Just merely thinking about that monster's name made his bloodlust run high and his demon blood boil over…. _You will no longer be a threat; you will no longer hurt the person I care about the most._

* * *

"Attention passengers please stay in your seats and secure your seatbelts we will be landing soon."

Okuda's eyes slowly opened adjusting to the bright light that surrounded her. Small butterflies fluttered in her stomach as the plane slowly descended downwards.

"Oh…A-Akari, wake up…" Okuda said gently probing Akari's arm with her finger to wake her up. Akari squirmed around in her chair and begrudgingly opened her eyes.

After getting off the plane, they went to get their luggage. The echoing sound of footsteps filled Okuda's ears as did the loud chatter of passersby. The loud tapping sounds of feet on polished floors echoed loudly, resonating in-between the walls as thousands upon thousands of bodies pushed against each other scurrying around like black ants. Okuda could feel her heart beat quicken as her hands grew clammy. She was not one for travel. To be in an unknown area swarmed with strangers made her nervous and when she was nervous she usually played with the hem of her school uniform but she had donned on pants today so instead she nervously played with one of her braids to calm her nerves.

"Oh there it is." Akari said a she spotted their luggage.

After getting their luggage they made their way to the wand retrieval center aka WRC. Witches weren't permitted to have their wands with them on board planes. Not since the terrorist attack of December 12th….It was a tragic event. The plane was filled with Normals, many of which perished in the airplane crash. It's suspected that an underground organization of magic users were to blame. This notion stemmed from the fact that this wasn't the first time a terrorist attack against Normals has happened. Many think this secret organization plans to completely wipe out all non-magic users….though their true motives are still unknown. Members of this supposed underground 'secret' organization call themselves SERAPH, which stands for Supreme Enchanters' Regime Authorizing the Purging of Humanity. But, the media and masses have dubbed this organization, SERAGH, which stands for, Syndicate of Enchanters Removing Average Guiltless Humans. Manami let out a sigh….it was organizations like SERAGH that gave witches and other magic users, such as herself, a bad name….

"You okay Manami?" Akari asked when she heard her best friend let out a tired sigh. "Is it jet lag…?"

"U-uhh….Yeah I-I'm just not used to travelling…." Manami responded softly trying to rid her head of previous gloomy thoughts.

"If you want we can get you something to take care of that…." Akari suggested.

"O-Oh no, no. T-There's really no need, I'm sure I can just walk it off." Manami insisted. She didn't want to delay their journey.

"Hmm….If you say so…" Akari responded with a slightly concerned look on her face.

* * *

"Here we are!" Akari cheerfully exclaimed as she proudly gestured to her sister's living domain with a flourished arm.

It was a very modern house with gleaming white walls and a single gray accented wall with sharp straight lines, and cube like features. It was two stories tall and its green front lawn was duly protected by an encircling fence. Manami felt like the blinding white of the walls and the melancholic grey wall made the house feel a bit cold and sad, but the colorful bed of flowers in the front yard that were just blooming made her feel more welcomed as did the two colorful wind spinners and chiming furin wind chimes. Just as she was making her way towards the fenced entrance Akari had already bounced off to knock at the front door clearly excited to see her older sister. Okuda calmly waited for the door to be opened while Akari was bouncing on the soles of her feet eagerly awaiting the sound of footsteps beyond the door.

Swiftly the door was pulled open from the other side with great enthusiasm and there she stood with her large sincere smile that radiated kindness. Okuda tried to make eye contact but Agui's choice of clothes was a bit….distracting… It was a rather unique outfit to put it kindly….She was wearing the usual pointy hat and black cape that witches were associated with…no doubt she had been in her witch's cove before she came to open the door. That wasn't what was strange, perhaps it was the tights. Yes in fact it had to be the tights and if they were different the outfit would be less odd…

The tights in question were a pale white with thousands of cartoonish black eyes covering it. The eyes were oval shaped with six eyelashes; three on the top and three on the bottom with a single black ellipse that represent both the iris and pupil which vacantly stared at nothing. Accompanying the odd tights was a pretty bubblegum pink pleated skirt that just barley fell over her knees. Alongside that she also wore a simple arctic blue t-shirt that had a cute lemon yellow carton octopus. The octopus was round with eight equally round small stubs that represent its tentacles. The cute thing also wore a unique little outfit. It was wearing a fancy black top hat with an equally fancy monocle sporting a dashing little mustache. Yellow text encircled the octopus reading: Sir squishy.

In all honesty Okuda would love to have a shirt like that, though she would probably only wear it to bed. Before she could even say 'hello' both she and Akari had been enveloped in a large and slightly painful bear hug. Shocked by the sudden contact Okuda's whole body froze up and stiffened like stone. Even though both Rio and Akari were physically affectionate with her plenty of times she could never get used to such physical close contact, it made her feel awkward. She could feel Aguri's soft hair against her skin as well as the cool touch of her chrysoprase earring. (No doubt her vessel)

"Oh it's so good to see you two!" Aguri cried out happily as her hold on them tighten boarding between an overly affectionate sisterly hug and a cobra's suffocating embrace.

"C-can't…breathe…" Okuda muttered out.

"Hahah sorry, sorry…I'm just so happy to see you two!" Agui said sheepishly as she loosened her hold on them. "Now let me look at you two."

She took a step back to survey them.

"Oh how much you've grown."

"You sound like mom." Akari joked.

"Well come on in. I'm sure you two must be tired. I'll have Koro bring your stuff upstairs while I make some tea so we can catch up, does that sound okay?" Aguri suggested.

"That sounds perfect." Akari said happily. It was good to be home…


	8. Catching up

Letting out a content yawn Akari slowly rose up from bed rubbing her eyes to rid herself of any leftover sleep. She opened her hazel eyes and gazed around the guest room where she and Manami had slept… A small smile tugged at her lips. It was good to be home… Speaking of Manami she wasn't currently in the room. Her bed was left empty and neatly made and seeing as her glasses were gone from the nightstand alongside her hair ties Akari assumed that Manami had got up early and was probably downstairs or taking a shower. She supposed she might as well join her best friend downstairs and get some breakfast.

Leisurely stretching her aching muscles Akari tossed the blankets aside and went to get ready for the day. Yesterday was uneventful but still highly enjoyable, despite the jet lag Akair felt that day. It's been a while since she's seen Aguri in person, no thanks to a certain creepy faced bastard. It was a shame though that Aguri's familiar was not there to meet them.

 _How rude_ …Akari thought. Was it not the duty of a familiar to be a polite and obedient servant? He wasn't even there to pick up their luggage. Did he forget that they were coming to visit? _How_ _careless_. _Aguri must be too soft on him_. She'll make sure her familiar won't be as forgetful and inconsiderate.

Descending down the stairs with a tired smile Akari caught a glimpse of dark hair from the corner of her eye; it was Manami. The petite dark plum-haired girl was hunched over the kitchen table muttering quietly to herself as her right hand furiously scribbled something down on a piece of paper. Akari quietly tipped toed her way closer and without warning she snatched the paper Manami was working on. This surprised Manami who jumped back reflexively.

"Manami. What did we say…?" Okuda merely squirmed sheepishly in her seat before replying.

"T-t-that we shouldn't obsess over the bonding ritual…." She muttered quietly as she fidgeted with her fingers. One of the many habits she had when she was nervous or embarrassed.

"Because…." Akari said probing Manami to continue.

"B-Because we should take time to relax…"

"Exactly! Now come on and get ready Aguri said she was taking us to the town you can work on your summoning spell later."

Manami merely pouted but complied anyway.

* * *

The town was fairly large, of course not nearly as large as Tokyo or Nagasaki but it was only a short car ride away from the latter. The cool wind of the ocean was especially nice and relaxing. The smell of salty water was wafting in the breeze alongside the fumes of cars. It was busy, but it wasn't overwhelming. It was nice.

"So what do you think of the town so far?" Aguri asked expectantly.

"It's very nice." Okuda replied as she gazed out towards the nearby docks.

"I agree and it isn't too far from Nagasaki!" Aguri replied.

"I'm glad you two seem to enjoy it here! If you want we can go hang out in the beach for a while. Me and Koro love going there, it's so fun and relaxing."

"Speaking of Mr. Koro why isn't he here with us?" Akari asked seeing as the familiar stayed home. "He also wasn't there yesterday to greet us and now he won't even be joining us that seem-"

Aguri cut Akari off before she could continue.

"Koro assured me he had something very important to do yesterday and it took up more time than he thought. As for today I specifically told him to stay at home so we could have some girl time." Aguri explained defending her friend.

"Hm…I see but I still think-" For the second time that day Akari was interrupted.

"A-ah I w-would love to go see the beach...!" Okuda exclaimed nervously hoping to change the subject.

"Yeah let's just put a pin in this conversation and go have some fun in the beach!" Aguri exclaimed grateful that Okuda managed to change the subject.

"Okay, but we left our swimming suits in our luggage back home." Akari noted.

"Well then we'll just have to go shopping for some new swim suits first!" Aguri said optimistically. "Come on!" She continued excitedly as she grabbed them both by the wrists and dragged them to the nearest clothing store.

* * *

Aguri dragged me and Akari along before we had time to protest. We soon entered a boutique store that had a blue and beige color scheme. The walls were lined with thousands of swimsuits that ranged in color and style. I kind of felt overwhelmed by all the options. I shot Akari a glance silently hoping she would help me make my choice, after all, she knows a lot more about fashion than I do. Akari simply took hold of my hand and with a friendly smile lead me to the one-piece section. We both knew we both don't like showing too much skin…Me because I don't like drawing unwanted attention and Akari is still a bit self-conscious in regards to her still developing body….by which I mean her breast….it's her breast that she's self-conscious of. I guess they were small but at least she was no longer flat chested.

Standing in front of the mirror I can see how tense my shoulders are…I usually were one-piece swimsuits with a summer dress over it, but I didn't have a summer dress with me. The store only sold swimsuits and swimwear. Not only that but I had wanted to be bold and get a two-piece this time. It didn't show much more than a regular one-piece, it was a tankini after all. But still, for me it was step outside of my comfort zone.

The tankini consisted of a dark violet tiered ruffled top with a u- neck line that left my collarbone exposed and black panties. The top just barely hovered over my belly button. Perhaps the dark navy one-piece suit would be better…?

"W-what do you think…?" I asked shyly and gave a small twirl when Akari spun her finger around directing me to spin as she hummed in thought.

"I quite like it, though I wish they had more pastel colors for that article of clothing. I think a pastel purple would have suited you nicely." Akari commented.

"Hmm I don't know Sis I think the darker colors really bring out Manami's fair skin and bright eyes." Aguri commented as she grabbed her chin thoughtfully, her head slightly titled.

Akari blinked mouth open wide so much so that it nearly touched the floor. I too blinked in awe.

"Oh my god! That was actually good fashion advice and from YOU?! The world is coming to an end if you've actually gained any sort of fashion sense!" Akari exclaimed. Aguri pouted slightly dejected.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She cried, very offended.

"Oh uhh j-just that you have a….uhh… an u-u-unusually, exceeding peculiar, exotically odd and all together… quite impossible to describe sense of fashion." Akari explained nervously as she tried her best not to hurt her sister's feelings at least not more so.

"It's weird." The words came out before I could stop them. "OH I mean….uhh…not…at all weird…is what I meant….What I mean to say w-was weirdly average…" _Nailed it…_

"Well…It doesn't matter as long as I feel comfortable in it! So I say get the swimsuit if you like it." Aguri said with a pout although she tried shrugging it off as though it didn't affect her.

I thought it over…and for some reason I could hear the taunts of the flower girls. A frown tugged at my lips. If I was going to turn over a new leaf, this would be a nice step forward.

* * *

The beach was incredibly beautiful and relaxing. The salty smell and crisp air was refreshing and the sand beneath my feet was so fine and warm. The sunny sky shined brightly with little obstruction as its rays glimmered on top of the blue sloping waves. The rays of sun were warm and I liked the feeling of the light on my skin, but I did make sure to but on sunscreen beforehand. Akari and Aguri were currently dotting on their own sunscreen. While they did that I started scanning for a vacant area were we could place down the beach towels and bask in the rays of the sun. I had to use my hand to block the over joyous rays of light from burning my retinas.

"L-let's set up there." I pointed to a small strip of beach that was left almost vacant near the small fishing dock on the left side of the beach.

Akari took a glance to the spot I was suggesting and with a sunshine smile instantly agreed with my decision.

"Good eye, Manami." She said as she made her way towards me.

"T-Thanks." I responded modestly. A warm sense of validation ran through my body and made my heart resonate happily.

Akari's choice of bathing suit was a pink crochet flounce bikini top with matching bikini bottoms. The pink went really well with her pretty short green hair...Aguri on the other hand decided to go with a blue bikini with a neon fish pattern.

"Do you guys want to go for a dip or what?" Aguri asked as she laid down our towels.

"Actually I want to catch some nice sunrays and I want you to tell me stories." Akari exclaimed as she put on some sunglasses.

"Like Cinderella?" I asked confused slightly tilting my head in thought.

"No I mean like you know…Aguri's a professional witch she must have some good stories to tell about her adventures and such!" Aguri exclaimed. I flushed slightly in embarrassment…. _Of course she didn't mean fairy tale stories what was I thinking?!_

"Oh…well uhh…I don't know…What you're thinking of is a quester, a witch usually aligned with a guild that takes missions and quests. I'm actually a support supplier. I make potions, runes, and other enchanted objects to help questers on their missions, whether they are magical folk or not….I was a support healer for a team in a guild once though…would you like to hear about that?"

"Yes please!" Akari exclaimed. I simply nodded my head in agreement as I sat down on my respective towel eager to hear one of Aguri stories.

* * *

"And I was like _I never made a shield that big before_ and then as the swirling wave of fire came, I blinked and found myself standing behind a large blue shield! Needless to say everyone was so impressed and Koro praised me the whole day he even made me my favorite dinner as a reward!"

"W-Wow that sounds incredible!" Okuda exclaimed as stars began forming in her purple eyes while she listened intently to the reverting conclusion of Aguri's tale.

"Ohh so you and Koro are indeed pretty close huh~" Akari commented slyly with a feline grin.

"Oh hush you!" Aguri replied as she playfully slapped Akari's shoulder all the while trying to hide her coloring cheeks with her opposite hand.

"So how did you manage to cast that protective barrier spell?! Logically speaking you were low on mana and you only had that short ride over to memorize the spell so it should have been impossible!" Okuda excitedly commented her words effortlessly flying through her mouth at top speed.

"Uhhh hmm….Well it just you know…kind of happened… Like I felt a surge of energy and WHAM! I just did it…" Aguri explained.

She was a little disappointed that she could not fully communicate the feelings she had when she cast the spell.

"That's still very impress! Nothing less from you big sis. I hope I get to be as powerful as you! I even designed my incantation spell with a demon in mind so I could match your power level!" Akari excitedly confessed.

"A demon? You want a demon?" Aguri asked as if to confirm what Akari said.

"Yup!" Was Akari's simple reply.

"Oh well then it's only appropriate that I your big sister with a demon familiar teach you all I know!" Aguri said excited by the concept of being her sister's mentor and teacher.

"That's what I told Manami!"

"Well great minds think alike don't they?" Aguri said happily as her lips tugged upwards into a small smile with a giggle verging to escape them.

"So you really can teach us..?" Okuda asked hoping that they wouldn't be a burden.

"Us…?" Aguri asked confused as she slightly tilted her head to the left her bangs swooshing with her movement.

"O-oh uhh I if y-you don't want to I uhh I uhh mean I was thinking…I m-mean Akari said that I-I uhh well I don't want t-to intrude and I don't want a demon really...b-but well I uhh kinda of would like I mean I uhh…" Okuda stuttered out as she flushed in embarrassment.

She couldn't even talk right, how could she possible get a demon…She was so embarrassed that she opted to stare at the fine beach sand below her rather than look into Aguri's confused gaze.

"Oh! No, no! Okuda I would gladly teach you both! I just didn't expect you may have wanted a demon as a familiar is all. Don't worry. In fact! Let's start right when we get home!" Aguri exclaimed hoping to lift Okuda's spirits up.

"R-Really!" Okuda asked excitedly.

"Indubitably!" Aguri said reassuringly with a matter of the fact tone of voice as she got into the 'we can do it' pose.

"But first let's just enjoy the beach!" Akari suggested "After all we did say we were going to relax before worrying about the Bonding ritual."

"R-right!" Okuda replied with a determined smile and a twinkle in her lovely violet eyes and for what seemed like the millionth time Okuda inwardly thanked Akari for inviting her on this trip. Akari was just glad to see her best friend's eyes sparkle with such enthusiasm, seeing her Manami so happy made her feel happy.

"Oh, I know! Why don't we go collect some seashells? I would love some for my collection and some can even be used in potion making!" Aguri suggested.

"O-oh they would also be good for the bonding ritual…I still need to gather some items for the summoning spell." Okuda confessed.

"Yeah, ok! So after that we can go build a sandcastle!" Akari added

"A-and it w-would be nice if we could have a dip in the ocean before it gets dark." Okuda said.

"Okay then! It's decided! Let's make this the best beach day every!" Akari cheerfully exclaimed as she took Okuda's pale slender hand in hers and started jogging towards the shore's end so that they could walk alongside the gentle waves of the beach to find seashells. Aguri quickly followed as she giggled over Akari's enthusiasm.

* * *

Koro let out a tired sigh. He was half-way sprawled on the floor with his legs and feet probed up on the long couch in the living area while his bored onyx eyes sadly gazed up at the ticking wall clock whose hands moved so sadistically slow. He _really, really, really_ wanted to go to the beach with the others, but Aguri specifically instructed him to 'hold down the fort' while she and the others had some private girl time. On one hand he could understand that she just really wanted to spend time with Akari and her friend, which she hasn't seen in ages, but on the other hand he's still her familiar and she always takes him out to the beach with her. He couldn't help but pout knowing that he was left out of the fun, it was totally unfair!

Did she purposely not invite him because he ogles her and to a lesser extent other large chested females? If so, was she then perhaps worried he would creep out the two young witches? He could behave! Pinky promise! He let out another sigh. Well, it's not like him promising anything would change things now… What if this was Aguri's form of punishing him when he unexpectedly left to… _take care of some business_ …and didn't come back in time to greet their guests? Who knows?

But if any one of those were the case he believed he could make it up to her. Yes, he most certainly could make it up to her, perhaps a nice meal and some full out pampering for all three witches. Oh! He could do their hair and nails! It would be like a sleepover! He could rent out some movies; make some popcorn, and a homemade meal. Oh! It would be FANTASTIC! The mere thought of all these fun activities made Koro smile unknowingly as he got up from his back and practically started pouncing up and down the soles' of his feet with excitement. This was going to be great! So without further delay he decided to transform himself back into his full demon form. He only had a few hours to prepare everything, but if he was in his full demon form then that limited time gap would be enough. In an unceremonious puff of grey smoke the once handsome young man was gone and was instead replaced by a funny looking bright sunny yellow smiling octopus thing. He let out his signature chuckle as he bolted out of the door (making sure to lock it on his way out) at an inhuman speed. Aguri was going to love this! (And by extension him!)


	9. Filler the sequel

**Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope you're enjoying this time of the year! Nothing to report other than I love you all for staying with me and commenting on my story it makes me feel happy. I hope you like this chapter to!**

* * *

"I thought you put on sunscreen Akari." Aguri said as she tried to hold in her laughter.

Akari's once white as snow skin was now a flustered pink boarding on red near her shoulders and ears, the only non-pink skin was around her eyes where her sunglasses had been. It made her look like pink raccoon.

"Wahhhhhh! I must not have gotten a strong enough sunscreen!" Aguri cried out as tears began to form around the outer corners of her eye while she childishly pouted before giving Aguri a glare that said: 'laugh I dare you.'

Seeing the glare made Aguri nervously clear her throat to try and rid herself of the giggles.

"Did you check to see if it was waterproof? We did take a quick dip in the ocean after we collected seashells." Okuda commented and despite Aguri's pink face she somehow visibly paled as her hazel eye grew wide in realization.

"…..FUUuCCcKKKK!"

"…watch your profanity."

* * *

Koro let out a pride sigh in triumph as he puffed up his chest admiring his work. Seeing as he didn't know what kind of movie the girls would like to see he decided to get a large variety of everything. You name it he had it: romance, action, horror, sci-fi, tragedy, family, animated, nonfiction, etc. He also managed to prepare various snacks for all four of them to feast on while they watched the movie. He had chocolate covered popcorn, brownies, custard pudding, honeycomb toffee, Neapolitan ice cream, cotton candy, and various sugary drinks. However, to balance out all the sugar he also got baby carrots, cheese on crackers, yogurt, celery sticks, various fruits like strawberries and grapes alongside some water bottles if any of them decided to stay on the healthy side.

"Fufufufu this will be the best sleepover ever!" Not long after exclaiming this notion his sensitive ears could hear the sound of voices drawing near.

"Manami can't you make like an elixir or something?!" That sounded like his master's sister, Akari.

"Umm….If you mean something like a healing potion I don't know…I mean I don't have any ingredients on me and I'm not sure if the potion would really even help. I-it could just get rid of the pain and not the sunburn." Okuda responded

"Please you have to try!" Akari begged.

"Don't worry Okuda this will be a great way to start our lessons! I have tons of ingredients in my 'lab' so I'm sure we'll be able to make something to help Akari no sweat." Aguri said.

Before they got any closer he quickly transformed himself back into his human form and put on a salmon colored maid apron that was covered in red hearts and frills with a large bow tied at the back. The pink stood nicely against the black of the maid uniform he had donned on. It also helped cover up his man cleavage that the black maid outfit with white frills so scandalously revealed. He made sure to smooth his hair out so as not to have any strands sticking out in weird directions and as the door knob slowly turned he got into position. The door soon opened revealing behind it the three witches; one of whom had slightly pink skin and judging from their still damp hair it seems as though they spent the whole day at the beach.

"Welcome home masters~" Koro cooed out as he turned to face them with a stellar smile. He even blew them a kiss.

A pregnant silence soon loomed overhead as the three witches stared blankly onward their brains trying to comprehend their current situation. Finally Okuda broke the silence by bluntly revealing what all three of them where thinking.

"Da fuck…?" She softly whispered under her breath as those where the only words that could express her confusion.

"Manami!" Akari cried out in shock. She knew Manami knew cuss words but to actually hear her say them was a big shock as her friend rarely used any profane language.

"…watch your profanity…" Akari said quietly in a sing song voice before returning her attention to Koro and promptly asking what the hell was going on.

Koro decided to explain to them his thoroughly detailed and thought out master plan that he had been conjuring up since an hour ago.

"Well dear master, I felt really bad for my earlier behavior so in order to make up for it." The tips of his jet black hair slowly shifted colors from black to a bright yellow before curling up and springing back out as tentacles. "I decided I would prepare us a fun sleepover!" He shouted enthusiastically.

Akari could feel a knot of guilt form in her stomach as she recalled all the less than nice things she thought about Aguri's familiar….but even so… This was one fetish too many for her liking!

"Look I even got you some honeycomb toffee especially for you Okuda-chan and some custard pudding for you Ms. Akari!" He said joyfully as his tentacle hair grabbed the said objects and presented them to the young witches.

Akari was still confused and didn't dare move an inch to grab the custard pudding that was so temptingly close to her face. On the other hand Okuda saw nothing wrong with the situation now that Mr. Koro had explained why he was doing what he was doing so without hesitation she took the honeycomb toffee from the yellow appendage.

"O-oh uhh thank you but y-you didn't have to." She said modestly before taking a bite from her treat and letting out hum of delight afterwards before devouring the rest of it.

"Well uhh Koro I umm really appreciate all that you've done really I do…" Aguri commented unsure on how to break it to her familiar that they would not be able to go on with his sleepover plans since they just made plans to make an elixir for Akari's sunburns.

This was all unbeknownst to Koro who simply began smiling as twinkling stars filled his onyx eyes like stars in the dead of night. He was extremely happy his master was appreciating his efforts. Everything was going according to plan.

"B-but unfortunately uhh we…" Aguri continued trying to avoid eye contact as she began fiddling with her hands nervously not sure how to let Koro down easy. Luckily Okuda chimed in.

"We have to start out training now so we can help Akari with her sunburns and hopefully get a nice demon familiar like you Mr. Koro." Okuda explained in the straightforward way she was infamous for.

There was a brief silence that loomed overhead like when suddenly a dark depressive aura began to surround Koro like dark water filled clouds. The stark contrast between his earlier bubbly aura and his now depressed one was so sudden that it made all three witches flinch back at the quick mood change.

"O-oh I see….it's okay I guess I can just…watch these movies by myself…there's no need for me being here so…." He mumbled quietly as he intently stared at the floorboards with despair….

Another brief silence came before being violently broken by Koro's sudden cries of despair.

"WAhhh! Of course I should have known! I was so rude and now I can't make it up! I'm the worst! I'm such a disgrace! Don't look at me! WaHHHH!" He cried as he plopped down on the ground and started waving his arms and legs like a toddler throwing a fit, his large fluffy maid skirt flaying out in the process.

In all her life Akari had never seen a more pitiful looking man…it made her feel really, really bad… His tears where just jetting out from his eyeballs much like how the water spurts out a running hose when you but your thumb over it.

"W-what! W-why are you crying Mr. Koro? D-Did I do something…say something…Ah! I-I-I am so, so very sorry I didn't mean to make you cry…!" Okuda exclaimed as she kneeled down besides the crying man tentatively placing a hand on Koro's shoulder.

He stopped crying for a while before resuming at full force….The term cry me a river was never more accurate…

"WAHHH! Look at what I did! I made Okuda-chan feel bad, even though it wasn't her fault! Don't cry Okuda!"

"I-I-I'm not though…You are."

"Aguri what do we do….?!" Akari whispered not knowing how to handle the situation while Manami did her best to calm down Koro. Aguri just gave a sheepish smile knowing that her familiar was just being his overly dramatic self…

"He's just being….extra…" Aguri put it lightly. "I got this."

Okuda was relieved when she saw Aguri coming from the corner of her eye. Aguri squatted down to Koro's level and with her mother voice she asked:

"Koro are you upset you couldn't come with us to the beach?" She asked gently.

Koro merely nodded in response as he sniffled.

"So you thought you did something wrong and that's why you wanted to throw this sleepover to make up for it while at the same time having fun with all us?"

Koro furiously nodded. Aguri sighed this was such a Koro thing to do.

"How do you feel right now?" Aguri asked the two young witches. "You two must be tired I'm sure one movie won't hurt…what do you think?" Aguri asked and Koro perked up at that statement, his eyes shining brightly with hope.

"Oh…I don't mind…" Okuda said.

Akari looked at Koro and she couldn't see an evil or rude demon she just saw a child in a grown man's body. He wasn't like anything she was expecting. She sighed…

"Just one movie will be fine…I am tired." She said and Koro's face broke into a wide smile.

"Oh! THANK YOU! So what do you girls want to see: romance, thriller, adventure?" He asked excitedly as he picked up random movies with his tentacle hair.

All three witches could only politely smile as they felt a bead of sweat fall down their forehead. They all thought the same thing. _He sure recovered quickly!_ It kind of makes you wonder if all that crying was just for show…


	10. To the cove!

**Happy holidays everyone! I hope you all have a nice Christmas eve. Consider this an early present. I was gonna upload it Christmas day but I just couldn't wait! So I hope you like it please leave a comment they validate me.**

* * *

In the end we let Koro choose the movie and he chose a romance comedy called: Casual Romance. It was a decent movie, Manami and Aguri liked it well enough, but just before the trailers even started Aguri and Manami made sure to give me some aspirin for the inflammation and a glass of cool water to rehydrate myself. Not barley ten seconds after the end of the film I saw a blur of colors and before I could blink the snacks and dirty tub ware were all cleaned up.

"All done~!" Koro proclaimed as he happily lifted his leg in joy…

It should be noted that he was still wearing the maid's uniform and it wasn't until now that I noticed he was also wearing black stilettoes. My left eye twitched involuntarily as did the corners of my mouth.

"Well then let's go!" Koro said.

"Go…?" Manami asked confused as she rubbed her tired eyes. Poor Manami must be tired.

I am well aware of the fact that she isn't much of an extrovert so all those social activates at the beach plus the movie must have drained her.

"Yes! We must start on your training immediately so that you will be ready for the Bonding ritual!" Koro explained.

"So where's your cove Aguri?" I asked as I try remembering the house's floor plan in order to figure out where Aguri's cove might be.

It would have to be somewhere that's well ventilated as the fumes of the cauldron are often overbearing… _Though Manami doesn't seem to mind them guess she developed a tolerance to them or something_. It would also have to be pretty big in order to contain all the basic necessities like: enchanting books, wands, potions, cauldron, ingredients, etc.

"Oh I think you're gonna like it! Come on, come on!" Aguri exclaimed excitedly as she began to beckon us with her hand.

Manami and I exchanged a confused look before slowly getting up from the blue couch and following Aguri's lead.

"Check this out!" Aguri said with a large toothy smile.

I directed my attention to what Aguri was motioning at…It was a…full length mirror? Could it be…?

"Aguri is this…Aguri..?" I looked over to where Aguri used to be only to find she wasn't there anymore.

"Aguri?" I called out again.

Koro simply motioned his head back to the mirror. With furrowed brows I turned my attention back to the mirror. Suddenly Aguri's head popped out and I instinctively jumped back like any normal person would do. She was looking at me with a goofy smile as she outstretched her hand from the other side of the enchanted mirror. The mirror's surfaces shifted and rippled like water when she did.

"Well come on!"

Manami gasped excitedly with renewed vigor. She gave me this starry eyed look before slowly making her way up to mirror. Aguri had already disappeared back into the mirror again and Koro wasn't too far behind. Manami slowly placed her hand on the mirror and watched as the mirror jiggled and rippled like water before walking in but not before offering me her hand. I took it and hesitantly made my way through the mirror.

On the other side was a room that was the exact same size as the room we were just in. It even had the same light brown wooden floors and white walls, but that was where the similarities ended as the contents in this room were significantly different from the other. The blue couch with the colorful pillows was gone alongside the yellow furry rug and small brown coffee table. In fact none of the original furniture seemed to be here at all and there seemed to be no windows either, but despite that the room was actually very well lit.

Various white and yellow orbs of varying sizes illuminated the room with light as they floated high above the ceiling alongside the hanging strings of glimmering crystals and seashells. The ceiling was so high up that there was a large loft up above that was only accessible through the set of floating stairs near the wall. The loft seemed to be covered in little cupboards that were filled with books and little knickknacks alongside various small bookshelves. No doubt that's where Aguri did her research and enchanting. There might even be a small desk and enchanting circle up there.

In the empty space between the floating stairs and the ground pushed against the wall were two large vitrine cabinets one of which was filled with potions and the other with jars of ingredients like sage, pickled spiders' eye, frog's breath, crystals you know the usual. Further in the back there was a small fire place where the cauldron was located. Just besides it was a long wooden desk filled with various tubes, flasks, weighing scales and burners….I glanced over at Manami.

Her eyes where filled with stars as she swooned over all the alchemic equipment. She was holding her cheeks as a large smile formed on her flushed face. She looked like a kid that was ready to receive the most delicious piece of cake alongside a large present. Or more like me when I look at pudding.

"Behave Manami." I whispered fully knowing that the witch was already concocting up various elixirs and potions in her head.

She just let out a squeal as she nodded her head.

"I-I will!"

"Come on girls take a look around and once you're done you can come to the cauldr-.."

Before Aguri finished her sentence Manami whooshed past me to the center of the room, spun around in a quick circle and then made a bee line towards the cauldron.

"Okay done! Now what size cauldron is this? Is it a standard size? Oh it's very nicely maintained too!"

"Thank you I make sure to clean it three times a day!" Koro said proudly.

"Good, good yes but do you clean it with fire or electrolysis? Oh hey also is this enchanted with the light weight spell?" Manami asked as she inspected the cauldron and the various other alchemic supplies like an overzealous artist analyzing classical art.

I turned to Aguri and saw that she was a bit surprised with Manami's sudden change of attitude from tired and shy to outgoing and energetic. I just gave her a sheepish smile in return.

"She's just really excited." I explained.

"Oh! Well…I do love passionate students! Go have a look around Akari we won't start without you okay….Yes, Okuda it is enchanted!" She said as she made her way to Manami.

I smiled…That's just like Manami…Her and her tunnel vision. Always focusing on her passions and blocking everything else. I decided to take just a real quick look around as I highly doubt Manami will be able to stop herself from making potions.

On the opposite side from where the Cauldron was, was what seemed to be an inside garden; to which Koro was already attending. There were lots of herbs and flowers aligned in neat rows with labels while others were placed in labeled pots. Right beside the plants was a small round desk. On top of it was a crystal ball and what looked to be a log book. Opposite of that was a fake skeleton display and the wall beside the skeleton was covered in various anatomy diagrams of not just human anatomy but also of various magical creatures.

On the wall in front of the mirrors entrance running all the way down towards the round table with the crystal ball where a few geographical maps and various astrological star maps and ripped alchemic pages tapped to the wall. Right in front of that map filled wall was a small work desk that had a laptop on top of it alongside a small fax machine and a telephone and on either side of the desk were two small filing cabinets.

"Done looking around or would you like a tour guide?" Koro asked as he approached from behind.

When the fuck did he…? I thought he was tending the plants! When did he? Oh yeah speed demon duhh…

"Oh no I think I'm done looking around I better hurry over to the others before Manami starts making deadly toxins without me." I said.

"Your friend sure is interesting. I cannot wait to see what kind of familiar she gets." He said cheerfully as he smiled…He had those one of a kind smiles…those smiles that make you feel happy and safe…

"Yeah me to…she's really amazing…uhh hey Koro…I uhh… Well I just wanted t-to apologize…" I said awkwardly as I didn't know how else to bring up the subject.

"For what Mrs. Akari?" He asked as he tilted his head his smile slightly fading as he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"For well…assuming you were a jerk…I mean for making you think you were at fault….a-and I just wanted to say….I don't think you're a jerk…I'm actually really, really thankful that you saved my sister from her abusive relationship…."

"It was nothing, your sister means the world to me…She's my master after all…" He replied sincerely with a modest smile.

"Yeah well thanks anyway…b-but uhh yeah that's all I wanted to say so uhh I'm just gonna you know."

"Go one they're waiting for you….besides La Blanca Rosa is about to start! And they just found out Carlo's twin brother, Juan is actually alive but he has amnesia!" He said excitedly.

"Well you have fun with your soap opera!" I said cheerfully as I quickly made my way towards the other side of the room.

I took a quick glance at the walls and saw that instead of diagrams and maps filling the walls there were mostly shelves on the wall alongside some tapped alchemic equations.

"Hey guys hope I didn't keep you waiting." I said mainly directing my statement for Manami's ears.

"So what do you think?" Aguri asked.

"I like it! But why is it here? I mean why not use a room in your house?"

"Oh well two reasons! One it saves up space and it lets me bring normals in without them accidentally finding my cove as only beings with magic can enter the mirror and two…because S-Shiro didn't know about it…" She said her voice growing softer when she said the second reason.

I frowned at Shiro's name…This must have been Aguri's safe haven…her sanctuary….Damn that Shiro for making Aguri so scared for her own well-being that she actually needed to create a place to hide from him.

"Hey I heard what you told Koro…" Aguri said trying to change the topic once she noticed my frown.

"O-oh…" I flushed… "Y-yeah will I mean I felt bad and I thought he needed an apology…"

"Thanks…" She said

"For what?" I asked

"For giving him a chance he's a really good guy."

"Yeah…I know…He did save you after all…"

"Multiple times…I don't think I can ever repay him." She said with a small smile her eyes looking out into the distance as if she was reminiscing about something…

"Hey where's Manami?" I asked suddenly noticing Manami's absence…

"Well she's already upstairs looking for some recipes to help with your sunburn….Sorry I couldn't hold her back." Aguri sheepishly admitted.

"When it comes to alchemy no one can hold her back." I confessed as I let out a laugh.

"At least she's excited!" Aguri chimed.

"If you think she's excited now wait till she actually starts brewing. I remember one day back at school she started making potions in the morning and didn't stop till the sun started setting and she only stopped because she was missing ingredients and the next day she made me go with her to help her find some special ingredient for one of her potions! We spent all day looking for it!" I said as I smiled at the memory.

"Well then it's going to be a long night isn't it..?" Aguri said.

"You bet it is!" I exclaimed before Manami's laughter came from upstairs.

I loved her laugh. It was as sweet as she was and it started out as an innocent giggle then a hearty chuckle before going from one to a hundred in a matter of seconds. I love her laugh but right now she sounded like a crazy mad scientist.

"…"

"…"

"…."

"You hold her down and I'll get the sleep powder." I said.

"Got it…It's on that top shelf over there." I nodded in response…this was going to be a looooong night.


	11. Schedule

"Manami! Hey wake up sleepy head!"

I let out a groan as my eyes slowly began to open. The bright light was prickly to my eyes and I had half the mind to just close them again.

"…The light hurts…" I mumbled as I shield my eyes with the palms of my hands.

"Pfft…what are you a vampire?" The voice joked around…for some reason it sounded familiar…

"Vampires have white eyes and fangs…" I rebutted quietly.

"That's exactly what a vampire in disguise would say!" The voice responded.

"Mmhh…" I responded as I rolled to my side and blocked my ears with my hands. "N-no not tears of a diamond tortoise the tears of a crystal _turtle_ …" Seriously an elementary witch could tell those two apart…

"You leave me with no choice…"

Cold…wet…COLD! Freezing, chilling ice ice! Water wet slippery! ICE WATER! With a start my eyes shot open as I let out a startled cry.

"A-aahhh! I'm up, I'm up!"

"Glad you're finally up." The voice said….Akari's voice…!

"h-huh…?"

I turned to my left and saw Akari there with a cheesy smile, her wand glowing lime green and floating right next to her was a bucket surrounded by the same green aura as her wand. I presume that's where the cold water used to be.

"What do you mean huh? It's our first day of summer training!" She exclaimed

I tried to search my brain for answers. What did she mean…Training? For wha..? OH!

"Oh! I'm sorry!" I said as I jumped to my feet. "B-but I-I thought…why is your skin back to normal? And why am I in the guest room? I thought I was in Aguri's secret cove." I asked….

All I remember was watching a movie and going through the mirror to Aguri's cove where I immediately began searching for a potion that could help Akari.

"Eeesh….May have overdone it with the sleeping powder…" Akari mumbled…

"W-what…?" I was even more confused than before!

"Don't worry about, don't worry about it." Akari said dismissively.

"B-But you're okay now right? Your skin isn't pink anymore." I asked wanting to make sure my friend was okay.

"Yeah thanks to the potion you and Aguri made." Akari replied.

"I-is Aguri waiting downstairs already?" I asked nervously as I immediately began drying my hair with a simple drying spell as I hurried to get dressed.

"Koro's making breakfast first so no need to rush; I'll be downstairs waiting ok?'

"Okay, I'll be down there soon." I replied as Akari made her way towards the door.

I quickly got out of my wet clothes and went to my purple suitcase to get a new pair of clothing. _Hmm…since we practiced making potions yesterday we might be doing spellcasting today…I think?_

I decided to wear a grey t-shirt under my short pastel pink overalls. I anxiously went to touch my necklace to make sure I was still wearing it. As soon as I felt the cool touch of the opal's smooth surface my nerves began to settle. I quickly got my wand and went downstairs to join everyone for breakfast.

* * *

"G-Good morning." I greeted as I picked up my pace practically jogging towards the kitchen table.

"Good morning Okuda-chan!" Koro said happily as he peeked out from the kitchen. "Breakfast is ready!"

He exclaimed as he brought forth a plate of hot pancakes on one hand and syrup in another while one of his hair tentacles held the orange juice and cup.

"Why you look lovey with your hair down Ms. Okuda!" Koro complemented. I flushed in response.

"T-thank you Mr. Koro….I-I usually wear it i-in braids so it doesn't g-get it the way of spell casting b-but I uhh I guess I was kind of a rush…" I explained as I began twirling a loose strand of hair around my finger.

"Oh so moe~! If you want I can give you a fishtail braid!" Koro exclaimed. "Even though I like your hair down I think a fishtail would fit you…. _swimmingly_."

"I guess I could try s-something new…" I said shyly. Koro was such a fun person to be around.

He let out an excited squeal before disappearing from my sights. I could feel the rush of wind surround me. His delicate fingers left a lingering ghost feeling of where he so much as grazed. Before I knew it my hair was in a loose side fishtail.

"And….Voila! What do you think?" Koro asked as one of his hair tentacles handed me a handheld mirror.

"I-I love it! T-thank you Mr. Koro!" I said offering him a happy smile.

"AWwww the moe is too much!" He cried as he held his hand over his heart. I just let out a chuckle at his antics….Mr. Koro was such a fun familiar!

"Oh I think the cinnamon buns are ready!" Koro cried before zooming past me towards the kitchen oven.

I made my way towards the kitchen table and sat down next to Akari and waited for my plate of pancakes. Once Koro set them down in front of me I gave him a quick 'thank you' before looking down at the pancakes and noticing that the pancake had chocolate chips which were happily arranged to look like a smiley face. Its smile must be contagious because I could feel a small smile creep its way onto my face.

"Morning Okuda-chan!" Aguri cried as she came over to the table with the daily mail and newspaper at hand.

"M-morning!" I replied before drowning my pancakes in syrup.

"How did you sleep?" Aguri asked as she sat across from us she looked a little worn for wear.

"Oh fine…I…think…"

* * *

After I finished my pancake I was going to wash my plate but a cool rush of wind passed by me before I could. I instinctively flinched back as I shut my eyes.

"No, no dear Okuda-chan you're our guest let me do the dishes for you." Koro said with my dirty plate in hand as he made his way to the sink.

"O-Oh okay…" I replied sheepishly torn between letting him be a good host and my ingrained upbringing. I was always taught to wash my own dishes even in the house of a stranger.

"So Aguri what are we doing today?" Akari asked as she excitedly leaned her chair forward.

"Ok! So Koro and I stayed up late last night creating the perfect class schedule!" Aguri said excitedly as she used her wand to cast a simple appearing spell.

Suddenly a blue sparkle flashed in front of use before poofing away in a swarm of phophenes bubbles leaving behind what looked like a large sheet that was neatly organized from hours of the day to days of the week.

"Okay so yesterday we practiced some potion making, for today we will be practicing some simple battling spells and then in the evening we will have what Koro and I call Familiar relationship studies! Basically since we won't know what kind of temperament or personality your familiar may be you will have to learn how to deal with various situations as well as compromise and build a strong bond! Koro is especially excited for that one!" Aguri said with great enthusiasm.

"Monday mornings we will go out jogging then do some Pilates while in the afternoons we will work on magic. Tuesdays in the afternoon is spell's studies where we will not only practice artificial spells but we will help you make a notebook full of your own original spells for each of you as well as help you with your speech and pronunciation!" Koro chimed in.

"Wednesday morning is defensive magic training and morning yoga while in the afternoon it's all magical creature studies and classifications. Thursday's is potion day! That means research, ingredient gathering and basically everything that has to do with potions and elixirs. I already told you what we're doing today so on Saturday it's review day were we go over all the things we've learned!" Aguri continued.

"Sunday we will help with anything you may need for the Bonding ritual but once you're all prepared for that Sunday will be you free catch up day where you can basically do anything you'd like. You could work on a spell, do some meditation, and decide what kind of magic spells you want to specialize in. Stuff like that!" Koro elaborated.

"Wow you really thought this all through!" I exclaimed as my eyes scanned the class schedule.

"Yes so come on! Let's go!" Aguri said as she hopped out her chair.

"Go?" Akari asked.

"Where?" I asked finishing Akari's sentence.

"We need to go to a more secluded place so we don't alarm any normals or unintentionally harm them with hay wire spells." Aguri explained.

"Are we riding our brooms there?" Akari asked.

"No you two will be hitching a ride on Koro. I _would_ use a teleportation spell but it's too early for magic like that so I'll just fly alongside you on my broom." Aguri explained.

"O-Oh Okay…so uhh do I hold on to Mr. Koro's back or how is this going to work exactly?" I asked.

"Nfueufe no need to worry about that Okuda-chan." Koro said as he transformed into his full demon form.

"Pfftt…Hahhahaha…!" The moment Akari laid eyes on Koro's full form she exploded into laughter.

"Eh! What's so funny?" Koro asked.

"Yeah what's so funny?' I asked genuinely confused.

"Omg look at you! I thought you were at least going to have wings or something! But…HAHAHhahah!"

"H-hey this body is way more aerodynamic!" Koro protested his yellow face turning a light shade of pink.

"W-well I think what Akari's trying to say is s-she thought you would look more scary….I'm happy that you aren't." I confessed.

I actually quite liked his full demon form it looked very friendly even a little silly which eased my nervous…

"Oh stop it you're making me blush!" Koro said sheepishly as two of his tentacles covered his bright pink blush…

"Come on Akari we get it…but for the record I think Koro's form is really cool!" Aguri commented as she felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead.

"Such praise from my master and from Okuda-chan makes Koro so happy!" Koro sang joyfully.

He surely was one eccentric character…Hm… I wonder if he had any elemental powers…Air perhaps or maybe even electricity since it would surly fit his electric personality but…The image of a giant yellow octopus in the sky with lighting powers was…hilarious! I had to choke back the giggles.

"Okay, okay! I'm good haha I'm good now." Akari chocked out her laughter subsiding as she wiped her brow. Who knew laughing so much would make you sweat.

"S-so where w-would I hold on?" I asked trying to direct everyone's attention to my earlier question.

Instead of answering Koro just wrapped one of his many tentacles around my waist and held onto me firmly. It was kind of like having a soft yellow rope tied around your waist. It would make sense for him to hold us like this. I thought as he brought me closer to his body…

"AHHHHhhhh No, no, no a million times no! I'm not into tentacles! Aguri help! Koro's being a perv!" Akari cried out her face flushed as soon as she felt Koro's tentacles warp themselves around her waist.

"I-I know it feels weird but they're not slimy o-or anything and they aren't rough t-they're actually kind of soft." I said trying to comfort Akari who was probably worried Koro's tentacles would be slimy and she would slip or something…At least I think that's why she was uncomfortable I couldn't think of any other reason why.

"That's not the issue here!" Akari exclaimed.

"It's not?" I asked.

"Don't worry Akari." Aguri said calmly as she got up on her broom. "Now there's no more time to waste let's move out!" She exclaimed.

"Roger that ma'am!" Koro cried out happily before zooming out towards the open door with Akari and me in hand.

The wind rushed past me and I held onto my glasses afraid that they would fall off. It was kind of fun really. I ended up raising my hands up in the air once because it felt like a roller coaster and I cried out it joy…I think Akari was crying out of joy too…I think? She was holding onto Koro's tentacles rather firmly though.


	12. Study time

Summer Training-Friday 8:00 AM:

As the wind pushed the young witches' hair back the sound of wheezing air rushed into their ears rendering small chat all but useless since their words would just fall behind them blown away by the strong wind. Suddenly just in front of them in a sea of blue was a small remote island. That must be where their training would be held. Akari idly wondered how far away they were from Aguri's house as she only now realized that they were flying over the ocean since she was preoccupied earlier by trying not fall.

"Here we are!" Koro announced.

After landing Koro gently set down the two witches on the ground. As soon as their feet touch the ground their knees buckled. It was like watching a baby deer try to walk for the first time.

"Hahah don't worry you'll get used to it." Aguri commented as she flew down from the sky on her broom.

"W-wow! How far away are we?" Manami asked.

Her curious eyes looking all around to find nothing but the vastness of the ocean surrounding them.

"Pretty far I think." Aguri commented as she gazed out towards the distance, her eyes squinting as if searching for nearby land. "In any case I hope you two are ready for some training." Aguri said before pulling something out of her lab pocket.

"What's that?" Manami inquired as she re-positioned her glasses.

Aguri was holding a handful of small rock figurines in her hand.

"Watch this!" Aguri exclaimed as the rocks' crevasses started to glow a bright blue.

She then flung two of them up high in the air. The sound of tumbling rocks was heard as the small figurines grew in size in midair before plopping on the ground in front of them with a large thud sound as the earth rumbled slightly on impact.

"These will be your targets." Aguri explained. "For now they will be stationary but next time…"

Aguri snapped her fingers and the rocks' vein like fractures began making their way around the rock in elaborate tattoo like design before being filled up with a light blue color that represent Aguri's magic. Suddenly they began to clumsily move their heavy appendages.

"They will become moving targets." Aguri continued as she watched her students' eyes widen in awe.

"Yosh! That's so cool!" Akari exclaimed as a passionate flame flickered in her hazel eyes.

"Well then let's begin with some simple projection spells!"

Aguri then took out another object from her lab coat; a coach's whistle and she didn't hesitate in using it.

"Okay let's move, move, move it ladies!" She demanded as she made Akari and Manami get into position to begin their training.

After words in the evening they had their Familiar Relationship studies. They learned that when faced with a self-conscious and sensitive familiar the best course of action is to use positive reinforcements and to be honest with each other by holding talk sessions to avoid misunderstandings or bottled up feelings as well as practicing one's patients.

Summer Training: Saturday-10 AM

"In order to make the sunburn cure what is the base ingredient for the elixir? Is it:  
A. Ginger  
B. Cucumber water  
Or  
C. Coconut oil?" Koro quizzed.

"B!" Okuda proclaimed confidently without any form of hesitation.

"B…!" Akari announced but she was too slow to answer.

"Okuda-chan said it first so she gets the point." Koro said as he gave the flashcard to Okuda.

"Yes!" Okuda exclaimed happily before taking her prize.

"Next time!" Akari vowed. "Come on next question!" She ordered. She was getting fired up!

In the end Akari ended up getting the most points. After a small break Akari pondered if they could go ingredient hunting for their Bonding Ritual ingredients. Since the rest of the day was basically free time Aguri agreed and let them look through her ingredient stash in her cove and if they didn't find anything or were one thing short then tomorrow they would go searching for the missing ingredients.

Summer Training: Sunday- 9:30 AM

Manami chewed the end of her pencil in thought….For once she wasn't worrying over her incantation she had finished that a few minutes ago…Right now she was pondering her future…She never really had a solid plan in mind for what she wanted to do…She sighed and picked up her notebook and pencil before making her way to the living room where Akari and Aguri were; Mr. Koro had gone out ingredient hunting…

"Need something Okuda?" Aguri inquired once she saw the petite witch walk over towards them.

"Y-Yes…please…" Manami responded.

"Okay what do you need help with?" Aguri queried.

Manami wasn't sure how to phrase her question…

"My future." She said bluntly hoping the broad response would suffice.

"Oh! Okay come here, come here sit down." Aguri eagerly replied as she beckoned the plum haired witch to sit down next to her on the couch.

Before Aguri could talk Koro came zooming in with a bag in his hand.

"Honey, I'm home!" He proclaimed cheerfully as he made his way into the living room at lighting speed.

"Oh finally!" Akari said as she jumped up from her seat ready to receive the bag of ingredients Koro had.

"Koro perfect timing!" Aguri exclaimed.

"Okuda here is having trouble deciding what she wants to do in her future and Akari has a few question to so why don't you help Okuda while I help Akari!" Aguri explained.

"Hey Manami if you need some reference you can ask me to! Aguri and I will be in the kitchen if you need anything." Akari chimed as she picked up her stuff to move to the kitchen.

Manami smiled happily as her heart resonated with a warm hum. Everyone was so helpful and kind to her. She must be the luckiest witch in the world.

"O-Okay thank you!" Manami gleefully responded.

"Well then Ms. Okuda what is it you're having doubts about?" Koro asked.

For some reason in the split second Okuda wasn't paying attention Koro had adorned himself in a suit with rectangular glasses and was carrying a clipboard and pen around.

"W-Well Mr. Koro…uhh…" She didn't know where to start.

"Here have a seat."

She did just that.

"Now breathe."

She took in a deep gulf of air before letting it out.

"Well y-you see…I just kind of assumed really early in my childhood that I wasn't g-going to be a powerful witch…I thought a simple spirit would be my familiar a-and I uhh I thought that I would just take over my p-parent's mystic shop….t-they told me I wasn't obligated to d-do so…but still I don't know…" She rambled.

"I see so you wanted to have an unassuming life while still paying homage to the people that raised you…" Koro hummed as he wrote something down on the clipboard.

Having him writing something down was making Manami feel as though she was being assessed and inspected and it kind of made her nervous. Never the less she continued.

"I-I uhh guess but um…So now I don't know what to do. I mean if I get a strong familiar what then? Will I still take over my parents' shop? Do I become a guild witch? I mean…I-it's not like I myself will become any more useful even if I do get a strong familiar…and I don't want to be a burden…"

"…I see…Hmm…How about you simplify your way of thinking…just think of what you like and simple reasons that make you feel motivated." Koro advised.

"W-Well I like alchemy a-and I'm really good at it! I like Akari she's my best friend and I want to support her in any way I can! I-I also like being useful or a-at the very least feeling useful. If I can somehow help someone out then that's good enough for me…" Manami answered honestly.

"Well then there's you answer."

"Huh…?"

"Just focus on those things and what kind of job or possible future those things may bring. I suggest thinking of something where you can do all those things." He suggested.

"Hmm…o-okay…well…" Manami stopped to ponder.

Something that would allow her to do all those things…Was there really something that would help her do that?

"W-what's Akari thinking of doing?" She suddenly asked.

"Why don't we go ask her ne?" Koro suggested.

Manami nodded in agreement and they made their way to the kitchen where Aguri and Akari were.

"I really want a fluffy skirt but…hmmm maybe some tights…"

"Don't forget about practically now."

"Yeah, yeah I know…Some shoulder armor….and an armor corset…I don't want to be weighed down too much though."

Aguri's ears suddenly perked up at the sound of footsteps. She looked up from the papers she was looking at to see Okuda and Koro at the front of the kitchen archway. Okuda looked nervous. Perhaps she wanted to ask something…In order to ease the young witch's fear Aguri offered her a patient smile.

"What do you need?" She inquired.

Akari raised her head finally realizing her friend's and Koro's presence.

"Oh Manami did you want to say something?" Aguri asked.

Manami fiddled with one of her plaits nervously but Mr. Koro placed a comforting hand on her shoulder which eased her nerves.

"O-Oh w-well I…I just wanted…I was curious as to what you m-might be thinking of doing…y-you know for the uhh for the future." She stammered.

"Well I was planning to join the UCA guild or the EP guild. I've always had a knack for acting but ever since my awakening it's been hard getting any acting jobs… Besides I like helping people and magic is a way of life for me! So I decided the Undercover Associations Guild or the Espionage Patron guild would be a good guild to join and become a guild witch of! Hopefully I even get to assemble my own team to!" Akari exclaimed.

"I-I see…" Manami quietly responded as she stood still in thought…

 _She seems determined to join one of those two guilds….hmm to help people…do what she likes_ … Manami's gears suddenly started working as she thought about what both Akari and Koro said to her…If she recalls correctly the EP Guild and the UCA guild… They didn't just focus on the sole act of espionage they also had people that could provide materials for certain jobs and request….Then a light bulb went off in her head.

"I know what I want to do now!" Manami exclaimed loudly.

"Eureka we made a break through!" Koro cried ecstatically.

"Really? What is it?" Aguri asked.

"I-I want to stay by Akari's side and support her in any way I can! Because! Because… I care deeply about her as a friend! So I will join the EP or UCA guild with her and lend her my alchemic skills to aid her in her job requests. Or even if she doesn't join the EP or UCA guild wherever she goes I go! I will support her in health and in illness to the end of my days with all my abilities, skills and tools at hand!" She loudly proclaimed with a determined face.

Akari had turned beet red her pulse quickening as her heart stated hammering at Manmi's declaration as it was starting to sound more like wedding vows, but she was flattered her friend liked her so much and cared about her. It made her heart feel warm and full of love.

"So you're saying you want to become a guild witch and act as the support of the group as well as the supplier in order to help people and support your best friend while still doing what you love, am I correct?" Koro said as he summarized what Okuda meant to say.

"Yes!" She quickly replied.

"Okay then phase one complete!" Koro proclaimed happily.

"Phase…one?" Okuda muttered in confusion as she tilted her head.

"We must move on to what you wish to specialize in so we can train you accordingly." Aguri explained.

"Akari already has that figured out. Why don't you two stay so we can help you?" Aguri suggested

"O-Oh okay…" Manami said as she sat down across from Aguri and Akari.

"Akari why don't you tell them what you were going to specialize in doing. It might help Okuda." Aguri advised.

Akari nodded as she let her red cheeks cool down first before she looked Manami in the eyes again. She was still a little flustered.

"Oh uhh w-well if you really want to join the same guild as me than the EP guild is the best option as they are a more well-rounded guild that doesn't just focus on spying…and I thought in terms of magic I would specialize in hexes and charms opting to concentrate on the ice and water elements as that was the element that awakened my powers." Akari explained.

"What do you mean?" Manami asked.

 _What did someone's awakening have to do with their ability to cast elemental spells?_ She wondered.

"Well you see Okuda a witch is often better suited for the type of magic that causes her awakening. Akari here had her awakening on set during a movie production. She was still a child and she was tired and hungry and just wanted a break to go eat but she didn't get one which made her annoyed and all of a sudden the temperature dropped, snow began to fall, and ice formed around the ground." Aguri explained.

"W-well how did they know it was Akari's fault?" Manami cried out in defense of her friend.

"The ice from the ground was stemming from her furthermore she wasn't shivering and the snow never fell on her."

"O-Oh but I s-still don't get it…"

"In simpler terms some witches are just better at casting certain spells and those spells correlate to the kind of magic used in their awakening." Koro elaborated.

"Oh I see…"

"You can continue now Akari." Aguri said.

"Right well. I plan to work in the field as a spy but I want to be well-rounded so I'm thinking that fighting and magic skill wise I would be an agile tank since I have an unnaturally high endurance and perseverance rate and have a high mobility. I would also like to focus mainly on combative strength and offensive spells." Akari finished.

"O-Oh okay….I think I get it…" Manami said.

"Now how about you?" Aguri asked.

"W-what?" Manami responded confused.

"What was your awakening like?" Akari asked a little curious as Manami never talked about her awakening.

"O-Oh uhh I…umm.."

"You don't have to say but do tell us what kind of magic you used." Koro gently said.

Manami stayed quiet for a little while as she refused to think back to her awakening. Regardless she took in a gulp of air before letting it out to tell them her response...

"I-It…it was f-fire…" She stammered.

"The complete opposite of Akari huh…? Well opposites do attract…" Aguri pondered out loud.

"I-I do have a-an idea for my position on the team though…I mean I was going to be the support…Maybe I can specialize in potion making….I've been umm w-working on my j-jinxs s-spells to…But I'm not one for …hurting others…so maybe I'll focus more on healing, protection, and distractions…you know defensive stuff t-that isn't to confrontational…" She babbled.

"I think that sounds perfect!" Koro said with a smile.

"Oh! And haven't you've been working on those uhh what do you call them you know their like beads but you throw them and stuff happens…? It's like…mini potion bombs or something?" Akari stated.

"Y-Yes…I was developing them as a personal project…As they would be easier for quest witches to hide and carry…T-They're basically like throwing potions b-but more compact some of them are just s-smoke bombs…others are freezing potions… or healing potions etc…b-but they uhh because t-they are rather small they don't cause too much damage….you know...s-So I'm still working out the b-bugs.."

"Oh wow that's amazing Okuda-chan!" Aguri gushed with sparkles in her eyes.

"Hmm…you would be a ranger, than we will have to work on that throwing arm!" Koro advised.

"Well I think that's enough discussion for now why don't we go have some fun?" Aguri suggested.

"Next Sunday we will discuss your witching outfits." Aguri said.

"Sounds good to me." Akari explained as she got up from her seat and began to stretch her aching muscles.

All four of them then decided to go to a small amusement park where they spend the rest of the day riding rides and eating carnival food. It was so much fun they made sure to take lots of pictures. Truly this was the calm before the storm.

* * *

"How is the test subject?" A male voice apathetically inquired as his gaze was keener on reading the large paper report in his hands than on the subordinate before him.

"He has been growing increasingly more aggressive and during sporadic moments of aggression most if not all parts of the brain responsible for rational thinking and language seem to shut down or slow down at the very least…"

"The state of the test subject does not concern me." Was the man's cold reply. "All I'm concerned about is the progression of the actual research. So tell me is it ready?"

The lackey swallowed a nervous wad of spit before replying.

"I…The subject is…still unstable and it is not very likely he will follow orders as he just keeps talking about his revenge…"

"Hmmm…I see…So this 'revenge' is an obstacle…a distraction…I did promise it that it could seek revenge though…" The intimating man pondered.

"W-what are you suggesting sire?"

"Let him have his 'revenge' perhaps then he will not be so distracted." The man ordered.

"But sir in his current state he could cause several unnecessary casualties, both non-magic and magic casualties! Would it not be better to make sure the test subject follows orders?"

"…Are you questioning my authority?"

"N-N-no s-sire I-I…I just would not like to waste any valuable resources or man power…He c-could very well attack his own allies." The lackey explained with a quivering voice his eyes searching for anything other than the man's glaring violet eyes in front of him.

"I appreciate your concern but do not overstep your boundaries if it will ease your nerves I can assure you that the test subject will not harm any magic users. It says here in his files that he already had a disdain for 'normals' and supported our cause, even in his most aggressive moments this disdain is still held true furthermore the moment he 'volunteered' for this experiment I informed the test subject that I would require a piece of his soul if I was to 'save' him from the state I found him in and now even in his more powerful form he will yield to me if I deem he has gone too far. He is nothing more than a rapid dog on an iron leash…and I should make it clear…I am not afraid of sacrificing a few lives to reach my goal whether they be magic users or not…So anymore protest?"

"N-No sir…"

"Good. Then move along."


	13. Filler Studies

Monday 8:00 AM

The morning wind whipped my braids back as I gasped for air. I could feel a thin veil of sweat form across my face. My lungs were straining as they furiously tried to appease my growing need for oxygen and I wearily thought ' _how is it possible for those two to go so fast'_ as I helplessly watched Akari's and Aguri's figures grow more and more smaller from the distance. I….was…. _ **NOT**_ … made for this! I was ready to stop or more accurately collapse.

"Okay!" Aguri cried as she abruptly halted.

I nearly lost my footing from trying to stop so suddenly. Regaining my balance I bend over in exhaustion trying to regain my lost breath.

"Are we huff huuahh uhh a-are we a…done?" I wheezed out.

"Nope! That was just a warm up." She responded cheerfully as she took a sip from her water bottle.

 _A-A W-w-warm up!_

"Warm up!?" I cried…

"No pain no gain!" Akari cried as she jogged in place.

She was always the more athletic one out of both of us. But she had a point….

"O-okay I-I'll give….i-it my all…!" I proclaimed loudly.

I collapsed on the ground five minutes later tripping over my own show laces scarping my knee in the process and Koro had to carry me the rest of the day. And to think we still had Pilates later today!

I cried internally as Koro just patted my head in reassurance as I buried my face in the living room sofa all worn out before meekly accepting the green healing elixir from Koro's hand.

Monday 9:00 AM

The three witches set down their yoga mats before they began their workout. Okuda could only internally cry. But, Akari and Aguri cheered her on throughout the workout so she stayed strong.

Monday 2:00 PM

"Today we'll work on those elemental spells!" Aguri stated.

Okuda nervously held her wand….She wasn't too fond of fire…

"Ms. Okuda is there something wrong?" Koro asked sensing the tension in the young witch's shoulders.

"W-well i-it's just that…I've never actually….used any fire spells since my awakening…" She mumbled nervously playing with her braids.

"That's fine we can change that today…we'll start of easy okay?" Koro kindly said.

Okuda nodded happily.

Akari in the meantime was working on her Ice spells.

"Akari have you been practicing?" Aguri wondered as she watched her sister conjure up a few snowflakes and ice butterflies.

"Yep! Ever since my awakening I've made it my duty to always practice my elemental magic!" Akari exclaimed before returning her focus on the small ice rabbit she made above her as it was beginning to waver from a loss of concentration.

"Hmm….You've come a very long way…." Aguri muttered as she held her chin in thought.

Then she smiled.

"Akari wait here I'll be right back. Oh this is so exciting!"

"Uhh okay…" Akari responded as she directed her focus to a nearby rock before sending a frozen barrage of ice arrows its way.

A few moments after that Aguri was back and she was hiding something from Akari's view.

"Okay, okay…Close your eyes." Aguri demanded. Akari did just that.

"So I was planning on giving this to you after you graduated but no time like the present! Now hold out your hands." Aguri continued.

Akari was suddenly very nervous and excited so she eagerly put her shaking hands in front of her before she suddenly felt the weight of something cold and metallic…a rod perhaps…No…it wasn't that, she could feel there was an imbalance of weight as the right side was far heavier than the left.

"Can I open my eyes now?" Akari asked curious to see what she was holding.

"Yes! Hurry! Open them!" Aguri feverishly implored.

Akari opened her eyes and quickly looked down at her hands. Her eyes grew in size as she realized what she was holding.

It was a magical staff! The rod she was holding was a inky black and on the left end of the staff there was a dark blue weight that was shaped like a horn shell. The right top of the staff had a large dark blue bow with a circular blue gem and on top of that was a trapezoid gem that acted as a pedestal for the powder blue half crescent moon. Nestled into the crescent's inner dip where artic blue waves while circling the outside of the moon were large shards of ice looking crystals that were suspended in mid-air a few ways away from the actual staff.

"T-This is…"

"Mmhhh it's a magical staff, more specifically a water and ice staff. It will enhance all water and ice spells!" Aguri explained.

"A-are you…"

"Yes, I'm sure you're ready…From now on you will be practicing using this staff. I have high hopes for you lil' sis!"

"I promise I won't disappoint!" Akari declared as she griped the magical staff with an unwavering amount of determination.

Tuesday 2:00 PM

"Effervesce incarcem!" Akari bellowed.

The large water bubbles floating above began to merge into large streams of water that quickly encircled the moving stone target before forming into a large water sphere that entrapped its victim.

"Freeze!" The water then started to slowly freeze over as the delicate lacing of frost spread quickly creating various crackling sounds before the whole water sphere was frozen over cold and solid.

Akari quickly ran towards the frozen sphere at high speeds raising her magical staff high in the air before taking a large leap forward staff raised high and smashed the frozen sphere. The sphere shattered into a millions shards of melting ice that glittered like diamonds before evaporating into the air as they were quickly melted by the hot rays of the sun.

"Bravo, Akari!" Koro exclaimed as he clapped enthusiastically. "That first spell was of your very own creation correct? Would you like to write it down in your notebook before we continue?" He inquired.

"Yes please!" Akari exclaimed without missing a heartbeat. It looked like she didn't break a sweat at all!

Okuda couldn't help but admire her best friend's seemingly unending endurance… For some reason she felt really proud of Akari. Then without missing a heartbeat Akari resumed her training with a determined smile on her cute face.

Meanwhile Aguri was helping Okuda with her pronunciation of Latin.

Wednesday 8:00 AM

After their morning yoga Akari, Aguri, Koro, and Okuda made their way to the remote island where they often practice magic.

 _Remember fire isn't just destructive and it's not limited to offensive attacks_. Aguri's advice echoed throughout Okuda's brain as she attentively watched Aguri before the older witch sent out a powerful ice blast her way.

"P-pyro contego!" Okuda nervously shouted waving her wand in the shape of a rectangle in front of her.

Suddenly a large fire wall busted forth from the ground covering Okuda from the oncoming attack like a shield and as the ice neared the fiery shield it melted away until it evaporated into the air just as it was reaching the fire wall.

 _In a duel sometimes offensive can be a good defensive but you must act quickly!_ Koro's advice rang in her ears as she quickly got ready to do another fire centered spell.

She aimed her wand in front of her, widened her stance and shouted:

"Pyro Cingo!"

The flames that made up the wall soon dispersed into pillars of fire that flew off towards Aguri encircling her; spinning around and around until they merged into a large pillar of fire rendering Aguri helpless as she would not be able to cast a spell inside the fire tornado.

"Go Manami!" Akari shouted from the sidelines.

Okuda turned towards her friend with a happy smile but now that she was distracted the flames where slowly dispersing. Not one to lose an opportunity Aguri used her wind magic to blow out the rest of the flames before shooting a simple projection spell towards Okuda.

"EEEEP!"

Okuda screeched as she turned to see the glowing blue projection spell head her way and with no time to cast a counter projection Okuda quickly jumped out the way only to topple over her own two feet; the spell only missing her by inches.

Before she knew it Aguri was in front of her menacingly pointing her wand at her.

"Remember to never take your eyes of the target, Okuda." Aguri lectured as she slowly lowered her wand and helped the young witch up.

"Y-yes Ma'am!"

"Okay Akari your turn!"

Wednesday 2:00 PM

"There are a lot more different types of demons than I originally thought." Okuda offhandedly commented as she flipped through a thick book full of different demons and classifications.

"I know right! I think the term is too broad." Akari said as she let out a sigh her right temple pulsating in pain.

"Yeah it is a very broad term but for the most part a demon is usually a humanoid creature with beast like features and they have three different forms." Aguri explained trying to rid her student's confusion

"You see kids a demon can change between three forms first their human form, than their full demon form, and the last one is a happy middle ground between the two! This is usually done to blend in with other humans and it doesn't require too much energy to do it at all its practically second nature to us! If anything staying in our human form actually helps us save energy, when we're in your world!" Koro explained.

"Hmm…I guess that makes sense it would explain why sometimes you have tentacle hair." Akari observed.

"What other requirements must be met in order to classify a creature as part of the demon species?" Okuda inquired curiously.

"I'm glad you asked my dear! Demons have many categories they can be separated into! Demons are first classified by a trait more often than not a sin such as envy, pride, rage etc. However, the sin in question is in fact a loose term. For example lust does not just mean a sexual lust it could mean a lust for power and sometimes sins overlap so another form of categorization is elemental powers! You two should know your basic magic elements you know earth, water, ather, fire etc.

Demons are also identifiable by their….uhh hunger for corruption….Very often demons can lose control of their bloodlust when near an especially corrupt human and they turn into their full demon form and well…they either eat the soul or just eat the human…uhh ANYWAY Lastly demons are also categorized in ranks the highest being frugals and the lowest being creatures such as bakenekos and even some nagas."

Akari's brain was about to explode, Okuda's was already fried as she had face planted onto the desk once her brain short circuited.

Thursday 9:00 AM

Manami had woken up earlier than anyone else and was already working on her potion beads which she called PB for short. She was the splitting image of a normal's idea of witch. Hovering over her bubbling cauldron as deadly fumes arose while she cackled manically. It was terrifying.

Friday 8:00 AM

They went out spell casting and although Akari had a little trouble getting used to her new staff she quickly adapted.

Friday 2:00 PM

"When confronted by an aggressive familiar never and I repeat NEVER use your vessel." Aguri emphasized.

"Why not? Isn't it supposed to be used as a leash?" Akari asked with furrowed brows.

"Well yes….but using it is a sign of mistrust and dominance. It essentially causes a psychological rift between the familiar and the witch and the familiar will begin to develop a subconscious resentment or fear of the witch furthermore if the familiar was already aggressive to begin with using your vessel would only escalate the situation." Aguri explained.

"The best thing to do in this situation is remain calm and sooth your familiar's irritations not enhance them." Koro advised.

Okuda and Akari simply nodded their heads in response as they wrote down the advice on a piece of paper.

Saturday 2:00 PM

"POP QUIZ!" Koro shouted which caused the two witches who were currently watching TV to jump back in surprise.

"Which out of these four is NOT a demon: A) Naga B) Flügel C) Imp D) Siren." Aguri asked as she brought out a piece of paper and pencil for her students so they may write down their response.

"Question two write down the latin word for shield!"

They repeated the process of Aguri shouting out the question while the two young witches furiously wrote down their responses trying their hardest to keep up with the fast pace.

Manami got a B as she had missed most of the Latin based question often either by providing the wrong answer or misspelling the correct one.

Akari had also got a B as she often missed question relating to alchemy or familiar relationship studies.

But overall they did a good job it was evident that they were improving and Aguri was all too happy to help them keep improving.

Sunday 11:00 AM

Akari was hunching over a piece of paper deep in thought. Pencil at hand she was working very hard to create a super cute but practical witching outfit. Some guilds have uniforms that they required all guild's members to wear but if Manami and her where going to EP then they would have the freedom to create their own uniforms.

Aguri had told them that as soon as they were done with their finalized sketch that they should give it to Mr. Koro and he would take care of the rest after he took their measurements (which was something Akari was not looking forward or mores specifically she wasn't looking forward to when she had to get her chest measurements).

Akari looked over her sketch one more time before she was satisfied. She then quickly glanced at her friend, who was tapping her pencil against her chin, her brows furrowed in thought. Manami was cute when she was in deep thought.

"Need any help there?" Akari asked as she leaned over Manami's shoulder to get a look at the sketch's progress.

Manami flinched as she felt Akari's breath against her neck. She immediately tried covering the page as she was self-conscious of her work...

"N-No…well er...I mean….I-I'm not r-really skilled at sketches or uhh d-drawing…so…I…."

"Would you like me to help?" Akari innocently inquired all too willing to lend a hand.

"…Yes please…" Manami responded sheepishly as she handed her paper to Akari.

Akari just smiled and began to help out her friend. If all went well they should get their witching outfits in two weeks or so! They would both eagerly wait for that day to arrive.

* * *

"Sire we've found the test subject's target. Should we send him out now?"

"…No keep an eye on the target, figure out his daily routine and then strike when he's most vulnerable."

"Understood."


	14. Soon

Sorry! For not updating but I should just be upfront. I am an unreliable author! I'm sorry! But heres some good news If you type mc-ai deviantart you can find the witching outfits I drew for Akari and Okuda

* * *

 _Beep! Beep! Be-!_

The alarm was abruptly turned off as Akari slammed her hand over the 'off' button…She had woken up earlier than the alarm eagerly awaiting this day…Sunday…Today they would be getting their witching outfits! Finally after so much waiting! Akari practically squealed as she jumped out of bed and ran towards Manami's side of the room with unrestrained joy like a child waking up early on Christmas morning.

"Manami, Manami wake up!" She cried eagerly as she shook her best friend awake.

"I-I da wahha… huh?" Manami babbled as she was forcefully removed from the land of dreams and brought to reality by Akari's constant shaking.

"Our witching uniforms come today!" Akari cheerfully clarified.

Manami's lilac eyes soon brightened as the last drowsy cloud of sleep finally parted; giving way to a bright spark of enthusiasm.

"I-Is it already here?" Manami asked with just as much excitement as Akari was feeling.

"Let's go look!"

Manami nodded as she scrambled out of her bed to quickly follow the running Akari not even bothering to brush her hair. She had got up so quick she almost forgot her glasses.

"Aguri! Is it here, is it here!?" Akari asked jumping up and down in excitement.

Aguri jumped forward in surprise dropping the morning paper she just got in the process.

"Akari you scared me!" Aguri cried as she held a hand over her thumping heart.

"Sorry….It's just…I'm so excited!" Akari responded.

"And we just can't hide it!" Manami chimed.

"Hohoho looks like I got here at the right time then!"

"Koro!" Manami proclaimed as she saw a flash of colors pass by.

Over the last two weeks the two had grown close and Manami no longer formally called him and Koro in turn didn't refer to her as Ms. Okuda.

"Is it here?!" Akari asked trying to look for a bag or a box or something.

"What's the magic word?" Koro asked.

"Please!" Akari said impatiently.

"Abracadbra!" Manami replied honestly.

"Ding, ding ding! Abracadraba is right!" Koro sang as his yellow tentacle hair brought out two boxes that where neatly wrapped in colorful wrapping paper.

"Wha….You're so biased Koro!" Akari replied with a pout but a smile quickly overcame her features.

"But Manami-chan is so moe you can't resist~" Koro cooed.

Koro treated Manami like a doting father or a loving brother…But Akari couldn't deny the fact that he was right.

"You have a point." Akari replied as Manami silently flushed at the compliment she had just received but smiled all the same.

"Well then go on and open them I want to see what you two will look like in them." Aguri said as she happily watched over her students from the sidelines.

The young witches quickly went to work opening up their respective boxes. They decided that Akari would get changed first and then Manami. Akari quickly ran to the nearest restroom to get changed.

"You ready Ms. Akari?" Koro asked as he got out a large camera ready to take pictures.

"Okay I'm coming out!" Akari responded from behind the bathroom door.

She opened the door and hopped out happily twirling around as she posed for Koro. Koro in turn eagerly started taking hundreds of photos.

Akari's witching outfit consisted of a fluffy pale icy blue skirt with a sky blue bow tied at the back and from the skirt's belt loops loosely hanging off her hips where two purple spell notebooks, no doubt filled with spells of Akari's own creation. The skirt barley reached her knees but to combat this Akari made sure to wear pale teal and cold purple striped tights underneath. For footwear she had on brown combat boots. She was also wearing a teal ombre peasant's blouse the sleeves of which were drooping off her shoulders.

However, her right shoulder was covered up by golden armor plates that were strapped on with a brown leather strap and accompanying this armor was a golden armor corset that went over her top and stopped right below her chest. In order to make the whole outfit more 'witch' like Akari wore a hairband that had a small purple colored witching hat attached to it. She then made sure her citrine pin was visible and safely pinned on the left side of her blouse before she took her large magical staff in her sky blue gloved hands and looked down at the now completed outfit.

"How do I look?" She asked after Koro finished taking a few hundred pictures.

"You…look…ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!" Manami exclaimed.

Stars' filling her sparkling purple eyes her rosy cheeks lifting upwards into a stellar smile.

Akari flushed happily at her friend's compliment.

"Thanks! I'm glad you like it." Akari replied with a large smile.

"I'm so proud of you sis!" Aguri chimed. Akari just shot her a sheepish grin feeling a little embarrassed at all the positive attention.

"W-well come on Manami I want to see you in your outfit to!" Akari said.

"R-right."

Manami quickly made her way to the bathroom to change into her outfit as well. After a few minutes she finally stepped out.

Purple. Manami's entire witching outfit consisted of varying hues of purple. It made sense it was her favorite color. However, there were a few things that weren't purple like the tights she wore. Although they were a light violet like her small pouch they also had thick dull blue strips on them. The brown of her combat boots alongside the tan of her arm and leg garters, which held a few potion filled test tubes, also stood out against the sea of purple. But everything else was basically purple.

Her eggplant colored military skirt had two pouches on each side and had a small slit on the right for better mobility and from its belt loops hung a string that held four large circular potions the colors of which were red, green, orange, and sky blue. She also wore a dark mauve purple coat with amethyst colored trimming. The coat was buttoned up and had a popped collar and it's two coattails gave off a rather 'witch' like vibe as they split from two tails to four coat tails which curved upwards slightly in a small swirl. Underneath the coat Manami wore a dark iris undershirt with an amethyst colored swan neck. The dark iris purple was the exact same shade of purple as her gloves.

Her gloves only barley covered her forearm as they stopped just before the elbows and where all but fingerless as the gloves formed a small triangle up the back of the palm coming to a point at the gloves' attached golden middle finger ring. Wrapped loosely around her gloves was a string of potion beads that came in a variety of different colors and its colorful rainbow of hues resounded against the dull iris color of the gloves. The only other thing Manami had on was her opal necklace and a headband much like Akari's expect her small witching hat was a light amethyst.

"I-is it t-too much purple….?" She asked meekly obviously embarrassed by her choice of colors.

"No I think you look super cute!" Akari reassured.

Manami flushed but she gave a shy smile in return assuring Akari that her comment was well received.

"You're so MAUVElous!" Koro commented as he began taking thousands of pictures of the young witch.

Manami giggled while Akari just rolled her eyes at the pun. Still a small smile tugged at her lips. It was going to be a great day. After all they were going ingredient hunting today to prepare for next Thursday as Manami had used up most of ingredients and resources just like she did last week and the week before that.

* * *

"The target has been located. Should we release the test subject?"

"No. They will be off ingredient hunting shortly which gives us a small window where the target will be mostly isolated."

"Understood."

* * *

Akari took a deep breath as the wind rushed past her softly blowing her green hair back. She just felt so refreshed today. It was nice.

"Okay here we are!" Koro announced as he slowly descended downwards.

Akari's eyes scanned the area around them. It seemed as if they were in a small clearing evident by the sparse circle of young trees surrounding them that only grew thicker the further you looked. Off in the distance Akari could also see the peaks of blue mountains beyond the sea of thick trees.

"Do you have the list Aguri?" Akari asked while she straightened out her small witching hat and made sure her skirt was wrinkle free.

"Yup!" Aguri responded holding the long list in her hand as proof.

"Okay then I will be off then!" Koro said.

"Wait, wait, wait…I thought you were going ingredient hunting with us?" Akari proclaimed with a pout.

"Well you see some of the ingredients you three need, can only be found in some rather dangerous places. Aguri and I agreed I would take care of the more dangerous ones while you three would look for the safer ones." Koro explained.

"Aguri we're not kids you know! We can handle it." Akari proclaimed hoping she could change her sister's mind….

"W-Well…it's…it's just you two still have so much to learn and I am not going to risk getting you two girls into any danger until I'm sure you can handle yourselves." Aguri lectured.

Akari frowned.

"B-But Aguri this…isn't our f-first rodeo as they say….Akari and I are quiet proficient when it comes to ingredient hunting at least…" Okuda commented.

"Hmm…Okay tell you what. I'm going to let you two go ingredients hunting all on your own for today while I accompany Koro. If you can gather all the ingredients by yourselves then next time we go ingredients hunting I'll let you guys help me find more dangerous ingredients…But if you run into any trouble please contact me on your Pearl and I'll be over in a millisecond." Aguri explained.

"Got it!" Akari replied as she took the ingredients list from Aguri's hands.

"Here take my broom to."

Okuda gladly took the broom.

"T-thank you for trusting us w-with this I…I promise we won't disappoint!" Okuda declared.

Aguri gave a small smile as she slowly stepped closer to Koro so he could wrap his tentacle around her waist.

"Take care you two okay…." Aguri said with her voice wavering slightly in worry.

"Don't worry we will!" Akari said as Aguri and Koro slowly took flight.

"Bye! See you in a few hours!" Okuda called out.

Koro and Aguri waved in response before they went on their way.

"All right then! Let's get started! What's the first thing on the list?" Akari said.

"Hmm…Cedar twigs, nightshade, and blue mountain flowers are the first things on the list." Okuda responded.

"This is gonna be an easy day!" Akira declared.

"I don't know what Aguri was so worried about." Okuda commented as the two made their way deeper into the forest.

* * *

"Is something wrong Aguri?" Koro asked after a short silence befell them.

He had noticed Aguri's worried expression and opted to ask what was bothering her.

"Oh! It's nothing….I'm…just really, really worried for the girls! Oh what if I made a mistake! They could be getting hurt! Or worse they can get lost and starve to death!" Aguri babbled as her motherly paranoia began setting in overtaking all sense of rationality.

"I didn't know you had so little faith in them." Koro commented slyly.

"N-no it's not like that! It's just…I do think they are well rounded witches that can totally handle themselves but even still….I don't know…I just…I just have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach…" Aguri explained as she began to bite her nail.

"Hm…that's….disheartening to hear….would you like to go back?" Koro asked as he too began to feel a sense of dread.

Aguri's gut feelings were often right…So Koro's growing unease was warranted for the situation.

"I…no I think you were right maybe I'm just being over paranoid." Aguri said sheepishly.

"Well okay then…If you say so…ANYWAY what's the first thing on our list captain?" Koro asked making sure to put more energy and enthusiasm in his tone of voice so as to lift the heavy feeling of anxiety and dread that had overtaken them.

It seemed to have worked as Aguri finally seemed to relax her tense muscles and a real sincere small graced her beautiful features.

"First up are icicle jewels from the infamous Winter Geode Cave. Now full speed ahead my noble stead we're on a mission!" Aguri proudly declared.

"Yes ma'am!" Koro replied before gaining momentum.


	15. Misunderstanding

**Sorry for the delay I just got my 1st summer job! So I'll be busy over the summer but here's a chapter things are gonna go down**

* * *

I got on my hands and knees and started searching for any signs of dampness inside the dark decaying insides of a wooden trunk that lay discarded on the green grass. Manami and I were looking for blue glowing mushrooms but so far we hadn't had any luck. I sighed in disappointment before slowly getting up from kneeling with no mushrooms in hand. This was harder than I originally thought. The forest was just so vast it was hard to traverse even with the witching broom. Not only that, but it was hard to even just find a good landing spot due to the dense canopy of trees.

"Manami any luck?" I asked hoping Manami was she had more luck finding something.

Manami simply shook her head no in response and I let another sigh….I dusted off my blue skirt and fixed my slightly crooked witching hat headband…The sun was still high up and would provide us with light for a handful of more hours. I cradled my chin in thought. Okay…think where do these mushrooms usually grow…? Somewhere damp and moist…in a dark area that was cold and far away from sunlight…That its!

"Hey let's go look for a cave!" I said after a light bulb went off in my head.

"Oh! You're right a cave probably has the right conditions to grow these mushrooms!" Manami said.

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Red. The world was beginning to turn a bloody red as hot rage coursed through Koro's body. Burning through his veins like searing magma. This time he would kill him. This time he will make sure Shiro's body is brutally disfigured beyond recognition…..even though whoever helped Shiro and lead him to them had already done a great job with that.

One of Shiro's eyes was completely replaced with a large circular machine that dilated ever so often as if focusing on the things in front of it. Shiro's fair skin had turned an ashy grey and the blue of his veins could be seen as they protruded from his ribbing muscles. Alongside that there were inky black tentacles that crawled up the entirety of his body clinging to man's body like some sort of leech. In short he looked like a monster….

"K-koro look out!" Aguri cried out.

"Aguri!"

* * *

"Hey Manami since we finished early why don't we go look for Aguri?" I asked kicking my legs up and down as I sat on a small log while I gazed at the grass with a bored expression.

"I-I don't know…Aguri told us to stay put…" Manami said as she went over the ingredients list to make sure they got everything.

"Auuggg!" I exclaimed as probed up from the log. "Come on, Manami! Let's go." I urged.

"…." Manami quietly looked at the ground her eyes gazing at the broom every so often as if contemplating the idea.

"I-I'll stay here b-but you can go and tell Aguri we finished early." Manami said.

"Yea sure I can make that compromise." I said as I picked up the broom and got ready to take flight. "See you in a bit okay!"

"Take care!" She called out as my feet slowly started to ascend of the ground.

"You to!" I shouted back as I began to take off.

I made sure to keep high above the large trees and firmly held onto the flying broom as I soared through the blue sky. I was going a little too fast as evident when I almost lost my witching hat band. I don't why I was being flying with such urgency. Perhaps it's because I don't like leaving Manami alone….

I left her alone…in a large enchanted forest with who knows what…Oh god! That's why I want to find Aguri as fast as I can so I can get back to my friend. That had to be it. I had half the mind just to turn back but I didn't I just kept going…

* * *

Finally after ten minutes of searching with no results I decided to cast a finding spell to help…Now that I think about it I should have done that first…Ugh rookie mistake I guess….Taking a deep breath I began to chant the spell out loud.

"Ego quaerere et invenire object locate salva me: Aguri" I chanted and tried to recall my sister's magical aura to aid with the finding spell.

Slowly a glittering green orb of light began to form in front of my chest.

"Go." I commanded and immediately the orb zipped up and grew a shimmering comet tail before blazing out towards my right.

I quickly began to follow the green glittering comet tail that the orb left behind before I myself got left behind.

The air was seemingly getting a little colder and heavier…Was I flying to high? I tried lowering down closer to ground but that heavy cold feeling was still evident…I'm no meteorologist so I don't know why the air and climate suddenly changed. Still I pressed forward chalking it up to weird magic or something of the like. Perhaps it merely meant rain was coming. If that was the case all the more reason to hurry.

After a few more minutes of flying I finally saw the small orb floating there….As I slowly approached it my eyes looked down and…I was met with a sight so horrifying it made my heart drop at the sight before it started thumping loudly in my chest as a knot formed in the back of my throat cutting off my breathing. I gasped for air my face flushing hot and skin running cold as a shiver ran up my spine. He was just standing there covered in her blood his tentacle hair blocking most of my view of Aguri's body… What did he do…? WHAT THE FUCK DID HE DO!

Without a second thought I swooped down and got a projection spell charging. My heart was thumping loudly as red hot blood coursed through my veins. I snarled a spell under my breath.

The glowing projectile grew and grew and the light was becoming blinding hot like my rage.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" I screeched as I hurled my spell with as much force as I could muster

The spell whizzed past the air, but before I knew it Koro had moved out of the way and it annoyed me that he did so effortlessly. I let out an annoyed tch as I prepared another spell. But then…in the blink of an eye he was gone…he fled…leaving Aguri's bruised cold body behind…

Gripping tightly onto the broom I dived down the prickling of tears blurring my vision. As soon as I was a meter or two near the ground I jumped of the broom stumbling onto the ground nearly falling over from the momentum as I ran over to Aguri. My body felt so incredibly heavy. I felt as though gravity was increasing as my knees buckled once I reached her.

I was shaking as I clenched her cold body. Hot tears began to blind my vision as my mouth went dry and a screeching scream clawed its way out of my knotted throat. It hurt like hell to scream but I screamed. I screamed the loudest I had ever screamed. I was angry and sad and hurt and mad and I let it all out in a viscous scream that vibrated and rang in the cold still air. I felt like I was drowning…

…and I couldn't help but note that…Aguri earring vessel was gone too…only further confirming my suspicions.

That demon killed my sister…

* * *

"S-sir…there's a-a problem…" A subordinate stuttered out cursing their luck as they had to be the one to tell their boss the bad news.

"Well then shouldn't you go out and fix it?" The cold voice remarked not at all interested in the conversation.

"I-I why yes b-but it isn't that kind of problem well it's not a problem it's more of an issue I mean it is a problem but…well i-I guess problem and issue m-mean the same thing but…"

"Just get on with it." The man said his purple eyes glaring at the feeble worker.

"Apparently….this Koro demon guy that the test subject wanted to eradicate…well he was stronger than we thought….Mr. Shiro is now no longer with us…."

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Oh dear now that is a problem…." The boss said nonchalantly

"S-sir what are we going to do?"

"Hmm…Get me all the information about this Koro fellow he may prove to be a problem if Shiro let anything slip…" Slowly the man stood up stretching out his long elegant white wings.

"And tell the division responsible for Shiro to find a new test subject."

"R-right! So when will you want the new subject? By the end of the week?"

"I was thinking by the end of the day…If they don't find one then they are no longer of service to me are they?"

"Y-Yes sir…"

The goon left leaving the frugal to ponder in his thoughts.

"My oh my it seems Shiro was more trouble than he was worth….But, this Koro…Perhaps he can be of use to me…"

* * *

 **Sorry that this was short i'll try to make the next one a bit longer also i rewrote previous chapters nothing major or anything mostly fixed spelling errors but you can go back and read them if you want**


	16. Aftermath

The sun gleamed brightly, high above the sky joyfully filling the afternoon sky with warm rays of light. The happy and sunny disposition of the day was juxtaposed to the large heavy cloud of sorrow that hung over the heads of the black clothed masses. Unlike the misty eyes of the hundreds of attendees there was not a single cloud in the sky, not a sing raindrop fell. It was warm outside and yet I felt so cold…The only rain that came, came from the tears of the attendants a lot of whom where middle school witches…apparently Aguri liked to volunteer a lot at their school and had even taught a few lessons there which the girls enjoyed, it seemed fitting albeit a bit cruel to have the all the students come over to pay respects to their beloved deceased mentor.

As the casket was slowly descended down into the open grave Manami could no longer keep up her strong façade. Her lips quivered and she covered her mouth to keep her cries suppressed but her tears fell down freely against her control. She started to cry.

I held her gently in my arms as her body shook and heaved in despair as she painfully fought back the sadness and tried to regain her composure. I felt a lump form in the back of my throat making it hard to speak but I no longer shed any tears. I couldn't cry anymore. I wasn't sad anymore…I was….

 _ **...**_

 _ **...Enraged**_!

Manami liked Koro she looked up to him. She saw him as family just as Aguri saw him as family! But that monster didn't care about them! I hated him.

I hated him. I hated him….

….

Hate him.

Hate him. Hate him. Hate him.

HATE HIM! HATE HIM!

HATE HIM! HATE! HATE!

HATE HIM! HATE HIM! HATE HIM!

HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!

How dare he hurt my sister?! How dare he make Manami cry!? I swear…I swear on my sister's grave that I well get my revenge on that octopus bastard!

Even...

If it's

the last thing

I do..!

* * *

Grey clouds filled the sky. They seemed endless in their vastness growing darker as they approached the horizon in the distance. Rain was approaching. One could already hear the numerous pitter patters of cold raindrops hit the pavement floor. It was raining… Softly rumbling thunder rolled over the clouds masking the sound of approaching footsteps.

"A-akari….I…I made dinner…so i-if you're hungry you know…It's there…" Manami whispered quietly.

Her quiet voice echoed softly within the desolate cold living room.

"I'll be right there." I responded as I watched the rain hit the glass window.

"Um…okay…"

Slowly Manami made her way to leave before stopping.

"I-If…if you want to talk about it…I can lend an ear."

"Another time…" I responded in a monotone tone.

I never realized talking could drain my energy so quickly...I made no moves to get up...

"A-Akari…"

I hummed in response…

"H-how…um…How did she…"

I sighed. I didn't feel like talking. Wasn't it obvious? But…I guess it's not fair to leave Manami in the dark. All she knows is that I found Aguri dead…she didn't know that the yellow demon killed her…I briefly wondered if Manami was better off not knowing what actually happened. She was so close to _him_ and Aguri… Telling her what happened….it could break her….

"I don't…Please I just…need….I just need some time alone…"

With that the conversation was over and Manami didn't have enough willpower to start another.

* * *

It's been a week since Aguri's death and still the air was heavy; weighed down by negative emotions….Manami didn't know how to comfort her friend…for the time being she's decided to just support Akari in any way she could while at the same time trying to not be overbearing in anyway. It was obvious that Akari just needed some space.

 _What a way to end of the summer_ ….Akari thought bitterly as she closed her green suitcase.

In order to make it on time for the summoning ritual and all the preparations that came with it they would have to leave tomorrow early in the morning…Akari let out sigh as she fell back on her bed…

Manami was currently downstairs making instant curry…. Akari looked up at the ceiling with a scowl as a thought dawned upon her.

The bonding ritual…she had almost forgotten…

Silently cursing Akari quickly rushed over to the small desk at the other side of the small room and flung open the drawer looking for paper and pencils…Her summoning chant! It was meant for a demon!

 _Fuck it's too late to make a new one now! Not to mention I've already have all the ingredients that were specifically chosen to help me get a demon….I don't have time to redo it all!_

"AUGG!" She pressed her palms against her eyes as she tied to push out all her frustrating thoughts to the back of her head….

"Rio said that I just have to direct it to a certain audience right!" She cried out loud trying to find some ray of hope in the never ending black storm that was now her life.

"If I just don't think about getting a demon familiar then maybe I won't get one." She reasoned.

"Yeah….yeah that could work…" God she hated this!

"A-Akari…t-the curry's gonna get cold…" Manami called out in her soft voice.

Once Manami mentioned food Akari's stomach decided to grumble alerting both girls of its hunger. Akai flushed slightly in embarrassment…..she hadn't had any food just small snacks and maybe a grape or two. But, her body needed more than that it needed a meal.

"T-thanks Manami I'll be right down!" Akari responded sheepishly.

With a smile and a nod Manami went downstairs to wait for her so they could eat together.

Once Manami closed the door Akari let out a soft sigh….She had forgotten to eat again…honestly if it weren't for Manami's constant reminders and cooking Akari probably would have gone the whole day without eating. All this time while she was laying around in her own sorrow and despair Manami had been taking care of her….She's sure Manami isn't feeling any better than she is but at the very least Manami was making an effort….Manami was too good for her….

"Yosh!" Akari exclaimed with fiery determination.

 _As of today no more feeling sorry or sad! I'm gonna become a better friend to Manami and get my revenge on Koro!_

As soon as she finished her thought her stomach started grumbling again. Akari flushed as she instinctively hunched over trying to lessen the grumbling noise.

"But first I should go eat…" With that said she made her way downstairs with a forced extra spring in her step and a plastered smile as her mind raced over the millions of ways she could kill and cook an octopus.

* * *

"Okuda, Akari!"

The two aforementioned girls stopped their walking and turned around to the source of the voice. In the distance they could see Rio running up to them.

"Oh Rio! Hey!" Akari said with her usual cheerfulness.

"D-don't hey me! I was so worried!" Rio screeched before her voice level dropped down to a whisper "I…heard about what happened…."

Akari instantly stiffened. She was still smiling but her eyebrows began to furrow…

"I…just wanted to give you my regards…." Rio said as she placed a warm hand on her friend's shoulders.

There was a brief moment of silence. A shadow formed on Akari's face as she looked down at the ground with heavy eyes but just like when a cloud briefly covers the sun this moment of relapsed sadness was brief.

"Thanks Rio you're a good friend." Akari said as she placed her hand over Rio's giving it a slight push to signify that she appreciated the thought but she didn't need comfort.

"Call me whenever you need anything okay?" Rio persisted.

"I will, I will…" Akari replied nonchalantly with a thankful smile.

"R-Rio how was your vacation…?" Manami softly asked.

"Hmm? Oh! It was great! I wish you could have seen it, there where so many things to see! I could have shown you the world!" Rio cried as she practically pounced on top of Okuda giving her a firm hug.

Manami flushed at the sudden contact but lightly patted Rio's back to signify that the gesture was appreciated.

"Hey Rio you're gonna suffocate her!" Akari cried out with a pout as she took hold of Manami's wrist and pulled her away from the bear trap that was Rio.

"What! No fair you had Manami all to yourself this whole summer! Let me have this!" Rio rebutted as she took a hold of Okuda's other wrist.

Akari lightly pulled on Manami's wrist and when she did Rio would just pull the opposite way. Pretty soon they were playing tug of war with Okuda's limbs….and poor Okuda didn't know what to do in that situation expect suffer through it. Luckily she was saved by the speaking tubes.

" _ **Attention all returning witches please head to your homeroom class to receive proper instructions from your homeroom teachers! The bonding ritual will begin shortly."**_

"Well I guess this is it huh?" Rio said with a tight smile.

"Good luck Rio, don't go burning down the school with your familiar." Akari joked.

Rio just laughed sarcastically before heading towards her homeroom but not before wishing the two witches luck on their bonding ritual.

"Umm…Akari!" Manami cried out as soon as Akari made her way to leave.

"Yes?" Akari asked with a cheerful smile.

That smile did nothing to combat Manami's nerves….

"I…I just wanted to say y-you'll do fine and that…whatever happens….I-I I meant it! I meant what I said about staying with you and supporting you….so…so if t-there's anything y-you want to say or t-talk about I'm here…I'm right here…" Manami rambled; her voice sincere and determined despite the stammers.

The fake cheerful smile Akari was sporting slowly diluted down into a sincere smile. The beating of her heart resonated loudly within her chest pumping warm blood up to her cheeks as the small sincere smile she had seemed to grow at the same rate her giddiness did. Only Manami could make her feel these things…This is why they are best friends because no matter what happens Akari knows she can count on Manami for anything.

Akari slowly made her way over to Manami and without warning flung her arms around Manami's shoulders and held her tightly in her arms. Manami was too good for her. She really was and her heart grew heavy knowing that she could never tell Manami what actually happened to her sister….but even so she wants Manami to be with her and see her revenge through to the very end…such a selfish wish….but a wish none the less…. _After the Bonding ritual_ Akari internally swears.. _After the Bonding Ritual I'll tell her everything._

"…Manami….there is something I want to tell you…but…just wait…Okay? Wait until the end of the Bonding Ritual…." Akari whispered as she hid her face from Manami's gaze.

There was a brief moment of silence…But Manami gently raised her arms and returned Akari's earlier gesture.

"…Okay…" She said quietly.

They just stood like that for a few more moments relishing in the warmth and comfort…before finally parting ways.

"Good luck."

* * *

Manami made her way to her homeroom and took her seat. Her shoulders where tensed and she stood erect in her chair as her heart tried to hammer its way out of her chest. The violent beating of her heart was merging with the anxiety producing ticking of the clock right above the classroom wall. She was waiting for her name to be called….

"Okuda, Manami."

"H-here!"

"It's time. Come along now."

"O-okay."

She got up from her desk and made her way to the front of the classroom but not before Iris almost tripped her on her way out. But she hardly registered that act of hostility because her mind was currently focused on something else entirely.

She slid open the classroom door and stepped outside immediately greeted by two other teachers who were wearing the ceremonial maroon robes and witching hats.

"This way please."

Manami followed them her movements robotic and stiff as if she was on autopilot. They made their way down the large hallway and down the tall spiral staircase the lead to the underbelly of the school before arriving at a small black wooden door.

"Whenever you're ready."

Manami nodded in response swallowing a nervous wad of saliva… _Breath…._ Inhaling then exhaling Manami's determination steeled over. This was it. Once she stepped in she wouldn't be allowed to step out until the Bonding Ritual was over. Swiftly so as not to lose this spark of confidence she opened the door and stepped inside the dark room.

The obsidian room was small and confiding probably no bigger than a small restroom. The light from the burning candles illuminated the darkness if only ever so slightly. The room was barren of any distractions, it was like a void. The only thing present besides the burning candles was the summoning circle in the middle of the room, meticulously painted on the ground with graceful strokes of eerie blue ink that seemed to pulsate a light blue glow in the dark room.

The vast darkness of the walls made it seem eternal as if you were in a spacious endless black plane of existence and yet with the candles' light the slight sight of the corners of the wall made everything seem cramped and gave off a sense of claustrophobia. Endless and seemingly vast but small and trapped; the room seemed to embody the young witch's feelings very well. Manami tentatively placed a hand over her bosom and took in a deep gulp of air before letting it out trying to steady her rapid heartbeat. This was it. The summoning ritual. The biggest event and test that will ever present itself in her young witch life. It was absolutely nerve racking. She can only hope that Akari and Rio are in a better emotional state than she is. Though Akari probably isn't any better off than she is… not like she could blame her, after all she did lose her sister...She doubts anyone would be able to focus properly after such events unfurled...she knew she certainly wouldn't be able to find it in herself to think of anything else...She truly hopes Akari will be okay... _now's not the time to worry about that I have to focus_ she reminded herself as she slowly made her way to the edge of the summoning circle.

Her right hand unconsciously fiddled with her opal necklace as if the stone had some ancient calming abilities. Slowly almost methodically the young witch kneeled down before the circle and from the hidden pocket inside her witch's rope she pulled out a small bag that contained all that was vital for the ritual to continue. She laid everything out separating the objects into five different groups and then organizing them by size. She was being meticulous not because she was stalling but because she just wanted everything to be perfect… or so she told herself. She took a deep breath and her eyes fluttered shut as she concentrated on nothing. She could feel the walls disperse as she was swallowed by a lukewarm void. Her magic flowed and twirled around her like purple ribbons before coiling itself into a glowing orb in the center of her palm. One down five to go.

Before she knew it there were five purple glowing orbs floating overhead. The last one would have to be the biggest. But before she did that she had to infuse the other orbs with their respective elements and place them in their assigned positions around the circle's pentagram. She took the closest orb to her and then took an object from the water group. First was a splash of mercury, which was the most important as it was required. After that she placed the rest of the objects she collected that would represent the element of water. A small pearl, a small lapislázuli stone, and a pale pink scallop shell. She watched as all the materials she placed in the orb floated silently in the middle before disintegrating and changing the orbs color from light purple to a light blue. That was one orb done. She lightly pushed the orb so that it aligned under the alchemic symbol for water.

Next was Air. For air the required basic object was once again mercury but it only required three droplets compared the generous splash used for the water elements. After she added the droplets she then added a bat's wing, a tuff of lemongrass and a cedar twig. After the objects dissolved the orb turned pale grey and was placed under the alchemic symbol of air. _Okay so far so good three more elements to go. Let's do earth next._

For earth salt was required any salt would do; she chose black lava salt. She also put in a lump of coal and a jasper stone. The purple orb soon turned brown. Fire was next. Sulfur was required. After sulfur she threw in a scorpion's leg, a handful of sunflower petals, an amber stone, a fire agate, and a volcanic rock. The orb suddenly violently shifted from purple to a bright red. The next and last element was ether. It was really hard to find things that represented ether so she didn't have many. First clear quartz was required then she placed in angel aura quartz and a moonstone. The orb soon turned into a blinding white color. After placing the orbs in their assigned position Okuda slowly arose to her feet.

It was time for the final orb to be placed in the center of the summoning circle. She would have to gather up most of her magic into the orb as she chanted her summoning spell. She took a deep breath and unhooked her necklace. She silently gazed at the brilliant opal and held it close to her chest as if she were in prayer. Inhaling a grateful amount of air she willed her nerves to calm themselves. It was time.

 _Allow me to destroy my weakness in exchange for strength_

 _It matters not whether it's bliss or pain I gain._

 _For I wish to be stronger_

 _To protect and defend, so lend me thy power._

 _Swallow any doubt let your bloodlust cry out_

 _Unlike the rest I'll do my best and I won't ever lose._

 _Let the light and shadows dance and merge until they're grey_

 _Let's soar above our fate and pave the way_

 _If you heed my words, then bind yourself to me and become my familiar!_

The pendant flew up from her palms and was encircled by purple magic like ribbons as they swirled around the vessel before essentially bubbling it and flying towards the center floating high overhead the rest of the orbs. Then a large white light…

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 _hehehe hope you like the cliffhanger! but real talk i'm having trouble with the story if you guys can give me some ideas in the comments that would really help my creative juices flowing but anyway thnx for sticking with me and your comments I really do appreciate you guys._


	17. Familiars Pt 1

A large surge of energy burst forth from the inner magic circle causing Manami's braids to thrash backwards from the strong momentum. She held her ground as best she could and shielded her eyes from the white light that emanated from her opal pendant. Gravity seemed to be increasing as it was becoming harder to not only breathe but just to move. Manami gritted her teeth and with all the strength she could muster she slowly began walking towards the middle of the circle.

The blinding magic and the resulting wind like ribbons that pushed her back caused her to stumble backwards as if forbidding her from taking another step forward. But, Manami kept walking. She could just see the outline of her vessel she just needed to grab it!

"AAUGHH!" She let out pants and grunts of frustration as she vainly reached for the pendant with her right hand.

"Come on!" She willed herself to take one final step and finally. She clasped the vessel firmly in her hand.

The rays of light and rushing force of energy funneled through to one single point, that point being right overhead of Manami and the necklace. The sound of whistling wind and emanating light grew louder as they all merged into a single line ready to take the shot. Overhead was an arrow of white fiery magic that roared and fluttered before violently descending downwards with a loud lighting clashing sound!

Manami let out a shout of surprise as the pendant was struck by the magic…..

…..then there was silence….and it took a while before Manami was finally able to open her eyes as they were still adjusting to the darkness of the room….

The first thing that caught her attention was her familiar's molten gold eyes. They were such an intense shade of gold that she couldn't tear her gaze away from them; it was as if they were staring into her very soul, it was nerve racking. She somehow managed to tear her eyes away from his so she could take in the rest of his features.

His skin was a bloody red. It was as if he had just bathed himself in blood and the only thing that disrupted the sea of red that was his smooth skin were the flecks of gold on his shoulders and down his arms. His hair was also red but it was a much more saturated fiery red with natural amber highlights and sprouting out from his soft silky locks where two large black ram horns.

Sprouting from his back were a set of large dark marron colored bat wings that were tainted an ashy black at the top of the wings' tips. The skeletal structure of the bat wings was visible and out for display due to the thin veiny membrane of the wing. On both outer sides of his wings you could see thick black bones acted like some sort of armor as they were thicker than the other bones present on the wings. They went all the way up towards the top of the wing where the bone became long and sharp like an elongated shark tooth that protruded outwards from the tip of the wing. As she gazed at his large wings she noted that he was very tall. She actually had to slightly crane her head upwards, but just out of the corner of her eye she saw movement.

It drew her eyes down where she saw that his dark red skin shifted colors to an almost black color from his elbows down to the points of his sharp claw like nails and from his knees to his sharp crowned eagle feet. The gold flakes present on his shoulders could also be seen on his hands and some on his feet most notably on his nails ... She saw movement again and that's when she saw what it was. It was his devilish red forked tail that caught her attention she didn't notice it before but now it was curling up and wagging…could this mean he was happy, anxious, excited…amused? She was never good at deciphering body language... Sensing her uneasiness he gave her a sadistic grin revealing to her his pearly white teeth and his sharp front canines that were filed to a point much like a vampires. She gulped a nervous wad of saliva as she was once again entranced by his captivating eyes…What was she supposed to do now? What should she say? She opened her mouth and let out the first set of words she could think of.

"Y-y-you have beautiful eyes…" She stammered.

"Oh?" He said with an amused voice as he drew closer to his new 'master'.

Embarrassed by the sudden invasion of her private space she took a step backwards. This sudden display of meekness caused her new familiar to let out a sigh his smirk shifting from one of amusement to one that was downright condescending.

"Hey are you really the one that summoned me?" He asked with a curious playful tone.

"O-oh! Yes! I am, as y-you can see I-I'm the only one here a-and I have the vessel." Manami explained wondering if her new familiar was just confused on what happen.

"It was a rhetorical question." He stated bluntly.

"O-oh uhh y-yeah umm….S-sorry…" She muttered as she caressed the surface of her vessel nervously.

The demon's mirthless smirk fell slightly as he stood there with a blank face silently watching the nervous witch that was in front of him thinking only one thing and one thing only.

 _Not only did I not want to become a witch's pet but I just had to be paired with such a weak looking one…Just my luck…_

"Um…M-My name is Okuda Manami…w-what shall I address you by?" The witch asked after a few seconds of eerie silence.

In all honestly Manami didn't really know what to do at this point. The bonding ritual was basically complete as she already had part of the demon's soul in her vessel but did she just walk out with them should they talk…? She was at a loss.

"So just so I get this straight my soul is in that little old necklace you have there right?" He asked completely ignoring her attempt for a conversation.

Not sure how to take the disregard against her attempt at communication Manami slightly took a step back a bit surprised by her familiar's attitude towards her…He was nothing like Koro….

"Umm only a fraction o-of it is…" She responded as she finally decided to put on the necklace instead of just holding it.

The demon eyed the piece of jewelry thoughtfully before returning his gaze to her.

"And if you were to die what would happen to me?" He asked curiously tilting his head with a laid back smile.

That question caught her off guard to….This wasn't going at all like she had envisioned.

"Um…I…I think you would be set free f-from your p-previous bonding contract with m-me a-and you could go on living in your previous domain…o-or you could be sent to the F-familiar Re-bonding p-program…" Manami stated thinking long and hard about her answers as she didn't want to give any misinformation to her new familiar.

"I see, I see…" He said thoughtfully tapping his clawed nail on his chin in thought.

"Uhh so…why did you w-want to kn-"

"Does that mean if I kill you I can be paired with a better witch?" He asked nonchalantly with a lazy smile.

Her heart beat stopped, her purple eyes drowning in fear.

"W-what…?"

* * *

Akari took in a deep breath trying to calm her raging emotions. She had to get through this, that way she could tell Manami what really happened. It was all that _demon's_ fault. That _demon_ killed her sister. She wanted _revenge_ on that _demon._

The magic orbs were ready to receive their elements. The air orb was made using a droplet of mercury, a silver coin, Dragonfly wings, and primroses. Making the air orb made Akari feel bitter towards the _demon_ because Aguri's elemental disposition was air and that _demon_ was an air elemental demon.

For water she used a lotus flower, a spider lily, lapis lazuli, mercury, aquamarine, a sea snake's tail and a few sea shells that she picked up when she was with Aguri at that beach….

Flashes of that _demon_ standing over Aguri's corpses were brought to light but she pushed them back as she redirected her attention to the next orb, fire. She plopped some ashes, sulfur and a salamander tail into the orb watching it slowly shift from green to red.

Earth was next simple enough she put some sea salt, sage, and a few crushed ants. The last one was ether which contained quartz, spider leg, and apple seeds.

Slowly taking in a few deep breaths Akari allowed herself to be immersed in the warming embrace of the void. Long bright green strands of magic began to fly out from her direction lifting up the small brooch from the ground swirling it around before entrapping it in an orb of magic. As it did so Akari began her chant.

 _Heed my command and catalyze my dreams._

 _You who are trapped in a cage of madness I, your master, will give you the key to your chains._

 _Proclaim yourself as my familiar_

 _So I may set your wings free_

 _Our time has come your salvation has begun._

 _If the shadows try to consume you_

 _I will become the light that destroys the dark you see_

 _If the light wishes to annihilate you_

 _Then I shall use my body to shield thee_

 _I won't let even god take you from me_

 _So emerge and swear you allegiants!_

A blinding flash of light shone forth from the center of the magic circle. Blasting forth with merciless energy; however that did nothing to deter Akari who was already making her way towards the center with a scowl, her mind preoccupied with the notion of revenge against the demon who killed her sister. She reached out and snatched the vessel in her hands watching as the magic rays that had previously pushed her away from her goal merged to form a large white flicking arrow that would grant her power. Without warning it struck down hitting the brooch that Akari had held out in anticipation.

With a shout Akari was sent stumbling backwards from the shock waves as her vision was temporarily impaired from the blinding light. Slowly her vision returned, but even before it was fully back she already knew that she was no longer alone in the room….Something else was there with her. Rapidly trying to blink away the last of the haziness Akari stared at her newly acquired familiar.

Its skin was an icy cold blue and random patches of snake's scales decorated its exposed otherwise smooth skin. Slightly poking out from its asphyxiated colored lips were two dainty sharp snake fangs. Its sky blue hair fell pasts its narrow shoulders while its long bangs were brushed to one side effectively veiling over one of its bright azure snake eyes. Its pupils were nothing more than predatory black slits that contracted and expanded like the lens on a camera. Sprouting on top from its sky blue tresses were two long horns that resembled Fargo snail shells.

From the top of its elbows all the way down to the sharp clawed tips of its fingernails the creature's skin hue shifted from blue to an almost bleach white. Her eyes followed the ombre of its arms and although its overall upper appearance looked very feminine and fragile just below its hip bone was a large powerful snake tail that shifted colors from dark blue to cyan. The tail easily probed up the whole creature effortlessly which gave an insight to the demon's underlying strength seeing as it stood tall and erect like a solider or statue without faltering in the slightest. But, despite its efforts to appear menacing by creating the illusion of height even its large tail could not hide the fact that this demon was short perhaps no taller than she or maybe even shorter if it wasn't trying to elevate itself on its tail. It also seemed to have small feathery powder blue wings on its lower back that it extended to its full length as it puffed out its chest to appear impressive…She let out an annoyed 'tch' Just her luck…a demon…it just had to be a demon…

"Hello my name is Shiota Nagisa. I am your new familiar." The demon greeted after Akari was done evaluating its physical attributes.

….

….

….

….

Silence

….

…

….

Akari didn't say anything, didn't make a move to approach her new familiar she just glared at it with a deep burning hatred. Startled by the sudden animosity towards him Nagisa slithered back in surprise his wings folding into themselves.

"Umm It's very nice to meet you!" Nagisa said kindly with a friendly smile wondering if his new master was perhaps just a little shy.

"Do not address me so casually." Akari growled with narrowed eyes.

"O-Oh umm sorry master…" Nagisa responded thrown off by the whole turn of events.

"Yukimura, Akari."

"W-what?"

"That is my name but you will address me as Mistress Yukimura or simply Mistress." Akari demanded as being called master remained her too much of that other demon.

"As you wish Mistress Yukimura." Nagisa obediently replied.

This feeling he had…it was akin to how he felt when in the presence of his mother, cold and oppressive. Perhaps Mistress was just distrustful of demons due to their bad reputation…he's sure she will warm up to him when he proves himself to be a good familiar….at least he surely hoped so…

"Then let's go." She stated coldly already making her way towards the door.

"Oh and put on your human disguise already, your demon form does not please me." Akari ordered.

"Of course…" Nagisa responded softly before small white snowflakes arose from his tail turning into swirling snow ribbons that covered the entirety of his body before dispersing.

No longer did he have a tail, wings, fangs, or claws. He appeared to be a small cute boy with porcelain skin, azure eyes and light blue hair that was gathered into a small ponytail.

"Does this form please you?" He asked a bit nervously as he tried his best not to fidget… He was a little self-conscious about his body both his demon and human body as he often got teased (by karma) over how feminine he appears.

"It's fine." She responded nonchalantly.

That made Nagisa feel a little better….but overall this bonding to a witch thing was not going as expected….From what Koro-sensei wrote in his letter his master was very warm and go lucky…and they seemed to get along swimmingly….Nagisa had hoped it would be like that with him….but he guesses that everyone gets a different master with varying quirks and personalities….he just wished he been paired up with someone….less hostiles and more….what's the word….well just someone less hostile would be nice. He let out a sigh before quickly following suit of his master who was already striding off on her own making sure to keep a respectable distance between them with him trailing behind.


	18. Familiars Pt 2

**Sorry for not uploading last week I was taking some Driver ed classes and FINALLY got my Permit! I wanted to give** **Nagisa and Karma some more focus so this chapter is mostly centered around them and little about their BG I hope you enjoy it!**

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Nagisa was nervous. He had been for the past few months because the event known as the Bonding Ritual was fast approaching…. Basically every four to five years or so, during the summer solstice a demon had a chance to be paired with a witch….The pairing was seen as a great honor as witches who were able to summon demons where usually very powerful and being paired with one would mean that their, the demon's, power level would overall raise considerably as a result. At least that's how the majority of demon society saw it as, but there were a few who didn't have the same ideology, like his friend Karma for example….

It was still odd to say that, even if it was in his head; that he and Karma where friends…

They were different in numerous ways. Nagisa was a water and ice elemental while Karma was a fire elemental….Karma had wings, he had a tail. He was blue, Karma was red… Karma lived in the fire domain which was covered in brimstone and sulfur, where the ground sizzled from intense heat and lava flowed freely downstream while he himself dwelled in the ice lands which were heavily coated with snow, where strong winds caused snowstorms and waters where unbearably cold. Then there was their views on witch pairings.

Even long before Koro 'abandoned', them as Karma dramatically put it for a witch, the fiery red headed demon always had a bleak outlook on witch pairings unlike Nagisa who thought the whole concept of witch pairings was an exciting prospect. He recalls Karma comparing a witch pair as a master and a slave at worst and as an owner and a 'pet' at best. In other words Karma was not looking forward to the Bonding Ritual….Not by a long shot.

But even with all that being said Nagisa often thinks that even if he did become an accessory or a pet….either option would be way better than staying with his mother….anything would be better than staying with her….He even went out of his way to stay out as long as possible away from home just so he wouldn't see those cold blue eyes of hers that set his nerves on edge.

He would go as far as withstanding the burn marks he would get under his snake tail from slithering around the blistering hot ground of the fire domain just to be with Karma and away from _her_ even that was a better alternative… _._ Besides….from what Koro wrote about in his letters Karma's bleak view on witch pairing wasn't true. Koro's witch was a friendly gal with an optimistic attitude that loved and respected Koro as a living being not as a pet or a slave or an accessory but as a normal living being.

Koro has never lead him astray before so as he clutched the opened letter in his hand, firmly grasping onto the hope Koro had sent through his letters he looked out towards the dry plains watching the sunset with determination. He immensely hoped he would get paired with a witch and be able to see the world that lay beyond his world, beyond the fire domain and ice lands, beyond the demon realm…

"I'll write." The blue haired boy whispered in an attempt to appease his redheaded friend.

"I want to hang out." Karma bluntly stated still perched up high on a large boulder that was just on the outskirts of where the dry plains merged with the high mountains.

What was understood from that phrase 'I want to hang out' was that writing wasn't going to cut it.

"You could try and pair up with a witch too you know…" Nagisa weakly stated…He already knew what Karma would say…

"Tch…Like I let some weak witch boss me around besides whose going to cause mischief here if I go? The demon realm would miss me too much." Karma stated with his signature cocky grin….

But Nagisa knew what he meant….He could see that Karma was straining himself. Karma was a very…reserved person and he often communicated through underlying meanings and sarcastic remarks. Nagisa knew that what Karma really meant was that ' _even If I get paired with a witch there's no guarantee we can keep hanging out together_ ' and Nagisa would have to agree….It's not like a demon can pick _any_ witch to be paired with….and it's not like they did it consciously either…it was more of an instinct than anything else. So even if they both were paired to their respective witches there was no guarantee they would see each other again. One of them could be paired to a witch in America and another in Australia…

"Well writing is all I can do…" Nagisa rebutted with a pout as he curled his tail around himself and hid beneath the coil he formed as his wings closed over him like curtains.

"There is one other thing you can do…" Karma said in a playful tone

"What is it?" Nagisa asked curiously uncoiling himself so he could look at Karma's face.

"Before the Bonding Ritual…" He drawled with a soft undertone as he gracefully descended downwards taking his rightful spot besides his best friend. "Why don't we…"

His hand reached out to touch Nagisa's long strands of soft blue hair….Nagisa knew what he was going to suggest…It wasn't anything too new…The two of them had, had there intimate moments…usually do to high emotions and impulse….But now was not the time for that. Nagisa was tired of that kind of relationship….both metaphorically and physically because the word 'restraint' was apparently not in Karma's dictionary nor was gentle.

"No." Nagisa immediately stated with a stern frown.

"Huh but why…? Is it 'cause I'm too rough?" Karma teased.

"T-That's….Knowing you you'll just try and keep me in place and make me miss the whole Bonding Ritual on purpose." Nagisa stated. His cheeks glowing a light shade of purple from embarrassment because Karma was technically right in his assumption.

"What I would never." Karma cried with a small pout….As he placed a hand over his chest in mock shock.

"Karma I'm serious." Nagisa stated hopping to sound stern but instead he himself acknowledged the fact that he sounded more like a whiny child then a stern adult.

"Then just for tonight?" Karma asked still persistent. "Please…" He added quietly.

Nagisa cursed him in his head. He couldn't reject him when he showed his vulnerable side. So he stubbornly obliged under the condition that Karma wouldn't do anything to prevent him from taking part in the Bonding Ritual and surprisingly Karma agreed.

But that was over two months ago….The Bonding Ritual was finally here…and when Nagisa saw that large beacon of green light…he was drawn to it immediately….The way the large beacon folded into itself to become an orb of light was mesmerizing….

Karma could tell that his friend was soon to be bonded with a witch. That look in his eyes was the same one Koro had when he saw that bright blue ray of light….He stared at the ground for a few seconds while Nagisa looked at the sky where the orb was slowly descending downwards pulsating calmly with a welcoming green glow. Nagisa moved forward slowly and Karma's hand found his. Nagisa stopped but he didn't look back….

Karma squeezed his hand. That finally caught Nagisa's attention as he turned back to look at his longtime best friend. Then he smiled….That stupid perfect smile of his that always eased Karma's nerves….Karma in turn knew what that sweet smile meant. It was time to let go and so he did.

Finally Nagisa had made it to the orb. It was floating right in front of his face radiating a bright warm glow…With a nervous smile….he tentatively reached out for the glowing green orb. As soon as he made contact with it a magic circle formed underneath him and in a large beam of lime green light he was teleported away…..

Karma watched him from afar with a blank face as he watched the light disappear with his best friend. There were various emotions coursing through him at that moment and many opposing thoughts where preoccupying his mind. He tried to sort them all out. Was he happy Nagisa left him like Koro did? No. Was he happy Nagisa was no long under the oppressive rule of his mother? Yes. Did he want a witch partner? No… Did he want to see his friend again? Yes.

Finally Karma reached a simple conclusion. He came to the conclusion that he felt conflicted.

His glazed gaze was directed towards the horizon but his mind was still sorting out his thoughts…Slowly his body began to move….he didn't know where to but he felt it better than just staying in one place….What was this feeling? Sadness? Betrayal? He wasn't sure….It wasn't until he saw a glowing purple orb in the distance that he realized what his body was trying to do….

That purple orb was shimmering with hope and it emulated a form of kind honesty that at the moment seemed so comforting. Unlike the luminescent glare of the lime orb this lavender one was gentle and soothing…like the calming purple color of the dusk sky gently enrapturing him in warmth and promise. Promise that if he came he would be comforted if he just accepted its glow.

And he refused it…. He tried to stop his feet by digging them into the ground but his body dragged on so he used his wings instead and it worked to push him back a few meters at the initial lift off and he managed one or two more flaps before they soon just propelled him forwards at a faster rate towards the orb. He gritted his teeth and tried to turn his body around….But the most he could manage was moving his eyes….He couldn't control his body!

"FUCKING SHIT!"

Was the last thing that was heard as Karma was teleported away in a large ray of light.

* * *

 **Sorry that this was kind of a filler it's kind of hard to write Karma cause I've never really written about a character like him before so I hope I'm not writing him to OOC please let me know I love reading your guy's reviews**


	19. We need to talk

**Hey everyone! How you doin? In regards to shipping I want to play around with the relationship in this story cuase it's fun and it causes drama but if i'm being honest Akari, Manami, Nagisa, and Karma are my OT4. I hope you like this chapter it picking up from familiars pt 1**

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Akari marched her way down the hallways with her jaw clenched so tightly Nagisa was afraid she may crack a tooth. From her long confident strides and her slightly furrowed brow alongside the previously mentioned clenched jaw Nagisa could infer his mistress was nervous but determined all the same. He thought about asking her what was causing her to be so nervous but immediately rejected the idea….There was no telling how she would react….So instead he kept quiet and let his eyes wander around the high ceiling of the castle hallways…Unlike the dungeon they emerged from which had low ceilings and dim lights the rooms up above where pretty spacious and well lit. There were also a lot more visible witches on the upper floor; they must be the ones who just finished their exams, as all of them were accompanied by their newly acquired familiars. It was interesting to see so many types of magical creatures in one location…

Akari however didn't give those other witches so much as a second thought. She was looking for Manami…..That was her priority. She may be royally pissed that she got a demon familiar but that didn't change the fact that she promised Manami she would tell her the truth about Aguri's death. Her hazel eyes scanned the hallways and classrooms searching for her friend's trademark braids…Her eyes lit up when they saw Manami….She suddenly stopped her marching and took a deep breath in preparation as she donned on her cheerful mask. This sudden change in demeanor did not go unnoticed by Nagisa.

"Manami!"

The witch in questioned jumped in response clutching her opal vessel tightly in her hands and as Akari made her way closer to her friend she took note of Manami's tense shoulders and wide, cautious eyes…Something was wrong…But what could it be?

"Hey, hey it's just me sorry if I scared you. Oh! Let me see you're familiar! Are they here?" Akari cheerfully asked hiding behind her mask as she tried to figure out why her friend looked so shaken….

"K-Karma?!" Nagisa shouted in surprise pointing an accusing finger towards a pale skinned red head that lazily leaned against the wall behind Manami.

"You know him?" Akari asked her eyes dangerously narrowing in suspicion. If Nagisa knew him that means he could only be…a demon.

"He's a friend." Nagisa replied.

"Yo!" Karma cried out as he slowly made his way towards the two newcomers with a lazy smile.

"What are you doing here?" Nagisa hissed quietly…tugging on Karma's black jacket sleeve so that he would lean down and listen to him. He didn't want to make a scene.

"Huh…we've been separated for ten minutes and this is how you greet an old friend? Harsh." Karma casually responded.

"U-Um…are you r-really his friend?" A small voice asked.

Nagisa blinked. He was so caught off guard on the fact that KARMA of all demons was here that he didn't take note of the small witch that was just behind the more imposing redhead.

"Oh, yes are you his witch?" Nagisa asked; curiously inspecting the witch Karma was paired up with.

He didn't really have any sort of clue as to what kind of person Karma's witch could be as he never really gave it any thought but he could say without a shadow of a doubt he never really imagined a girl like this to be his friend's witch.

She was small and slender in built. With flawless pale skin and large purple doe-eyes that where hidden behind a pair of round glasses. Her dark purple hair was neatly styled into two twin plaits that fell gently past her shoulders. She looked so timid and innocent like a bunny….How in the world did she manage to summon such a sadistic demon like Karma?!

"…Y-yes…" She muttered quietly throwing a few cautions glances towards Karma as her right hand slowly reached up to touch the beautiful opal stone on her necklace…

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Shiota Nagisa." He said with a small smile.

The girl looked like she could be intimated easily so Nagisa tried to appear as friendly as possible. After all, it would be best to be on good terms with his friend's partner…who knows maybe they could be friends he thought hopefully.

"O-Oh the pleasure is a-all mine…Um My name is Okuda, Manami….and a-are you Akari's familiar?" She asked curiously her stutters slowly subsiding….

It seemed as if she was getting a little bit more comfortable with him and yet her shoulders where still tense and she made no moves to lower her hand down from her opal necklace.

"Yes." Nagisa dutifully responded.

Okuda curiously looked at him and without her having to ask he already knew what she wanted to know.

"I'm a demon if you were curious."

"O-Oh I'm s-sorry I didn't meant to stare…I mean well I did stare because you know I can't really stare at anything else since you're in front of me but w-what I mean is umm…you…you look really cute!" She rambled.

That last bit threw him off guard; it threw him so off guard that he couldn't hide the pink blush that made its way onto his pale face.

"N-No I mean well I meant to say I-I well you…I umm your demon form….I was curious about it…b-but I think your human form is nice….Is what I meant…" She explained her cheeks becoming a light rosy color.

"O-Oh I see….Um just so you know I am a boy." Nagisa stated. Having the immense need to proclaim his gender so he wouldn't get mistaken for a girl because that's the way things where currently going.

"O-Oh you're so cute I umm…sorry…for assuming I mean…yeah of course boys don't have to appear m-manly…Not to say that you aren't'! But I-what I mean is…I-I still mean it a-about what I said earlier. T-That this form i-is cute! Y-you're a cute boy." She said sincerely….

Even though she was surprised he was a boy she didn't seem to be taken aback by it too much….In fact she was still calling him cute….If it where anyone else he would probably chalk it up as teasing or denial…but this Okuda person….She just said it so bluntly as if she was just stating facts that it felt like a compliment instead of the usual jest. Her blunt honestly but gentle tone made his heart flutter. Was…this what he wanted…? Yes she was the master he had planned for himself to have. Someone gentle, kind and above all else innocent…He deeply envies Karma.

"Manami…wait I know you may want to talk more with my familiar but remember I told you we need to talk." Akari suddenly interjected not liking the way Manami and Nagisa where interacting.

It just irked her the way they both seem to be getting along so well…a little too well for her taste.

"Oh um…Oh yeah! You wanted to tell me something." Manami loudly stated.

"Ohhh~ Is it a confession." The red headed demon teased finally joining the conversation.

"Shut it demon." Akari snapped causing Manami to flinch at Akari's tone…

"Um…Akari h-his n-name is Karma…" Manami quietly said.

Akari had to count to ten. _Calm down don't let your mask slip just yet…._

"It's just, you know, it's kind of personal Manami…" She whined with a pout batting her long eyelashes hoping she could convince Manami with her cuteness.

"B-But…Um….I get Karma…But umm is it really that private that Nagisa can't come he is your familiar isn't he?" Manami inquired innocently.

Akari froze…taken aback…Did Manami call the blue demon by its first name?

"Manami come on it's a secret!" Akari whined with a pout as she tugged lightly on Manami's hand.

"O-okay…Ummm can you two wait here for a while?" Manami politely asked.

"Okay; I hope you trip on some stairs and crack your skull open!" Karma responded cheerfully.

"What did you say, demon?!" Akari demanded her small being flooded with an overwhelming thirst for blood specifically this Karma demon's blood.

In a moment's notice Akari's wand was out and dangerously pointed at the red headed demon.

"A-Ah A-akari he uhh he was just j-joking he uhh didn't mean it!" Manami said quickly trying to disperse the situation…as a few curious eyes were now observing them.

Nagisa stayed silent….Karma wasn't joking. He's known him long enough to tell when he was joking….But the question was…why would he say that to his witch? From the little interaction he had with her she seemed like a nice gal….but at this point Nagisa could probably guess what Karma was thinking. _I didn't want a witch partner especially not such a pansy one…_ Is properly what Karma is thinking Nagisa concluded.

Meanwhile after a bit more convincing Akari finally lowered her wand but her glare remained potent….Manami was not a good liar not by a longshot. Something happened…and Akari was going to find out what it was.

"Come on Manami we need to talk." Akari said sternly her mask long gone.

"O-okay…" Manami said as she followed Akari to a more secluded area leaving the two familiars to catch up.

* * *

"Spill it." Akari demanded cutting to the chase.

"Um…W-well…I don't know what you mean…" Manami responded her eyes cautiously, deliberately avoiding eye contact.

"Manami…"

"Um w-well y-you see…I…O-Okay I'll tell you i-if you promise me you won't do anything brash." Manami stated nervously as she played with one of her braids.

"Hmm….fine!" Akari huffed with a pout.

"O-okay r-remember you promised okay…"


	20. We need to talk pt 2

Sorry for the delay I had some family stuff to take care off and overall just busy with school and work. Anyway! Enough excuses I know you're all dying to find out what happens now.

* * *

" _Does that mean if I kill you I can be paired with a better witch?" I asked nonchalantly with a lazy smile._

 _My tail wagged happily when I saw the flash of fear in her purple eyes._

" _W-what…?" She stuttered out helplessly as she took a few steps back cautiously._

 _I lunged forward my claws growing in length as the entirety of my hands where set ablaze with hot red fire. I wasn't going to obediently become some meek witch's slave. Not when I had the chance of escape._

 _In response to my aggression the witch instantly clasped the opal pendant around her neck._

" _Cl-Clodico!"_

 _Without warning I was brought to my knees from an intense pain in my chest. It was as if an invisible hand was clutching my beating heart in its merciless hands. The pain spread radically throughout my body causing my limps to grow numb and as I gasped out in surprise I realized it was even painful to breathe…The air was getting caught near my windpipes and I tried not to cry as I clutched my heart in agony, doubling over…The gravity around me was increasing, pushing my body down to the ground with a heavy force._

" _W-What…did you do!?" I growled forcing myself to look up at my new master._

" _I-I I'm sorry!" She cried out her eyes filling with horror and regret…._

 _The pain suddenly stopped. My muscles slowly relaxed and the invisible hand that was crushing my heart slowly loosened its grip and I was able to inhale air properly again and just as quickly the weight holding my body down soon dispersed into nothing.._

" _Y-You startled me… If you hadn't attacked I wouldn't have hurt you!" She stated with watery eyes._

 _She was still clutching that vessel of hers pretty tightly in her hands and that's when all the dots connected. I'm sure she used her vessel to stop me from tearing her to pieces…So that's what they meant by a leash…I glared at it…That stupid little pebble was what caused me so much pain?_

" _So I can't directly 'cause you harm can I?" I stated with a resigned sigh._

 _In response she merely nodded her head. I let out an annoyed 'tch' as a frown etched its way onto my face. There's got to be another way…_

* * *

"And that's what happened…oh I did realize that I could kill her indirectly though!" Karma chirped as he recounted his story to his best friend who was gazing at him with horror and disappointment.

"Karma you can't kill your witch!" Nagisa argued with a frown turning his body to face Karma as if to scold him.

"Huh why not?" Karma asked innocently as he tilted his head.

It was obvious that Karma was not attached to Okuda in any way, shape, or form….if it came down to it he would probably leave the poor witch alone on the battlefield at the mercy of the enemy…What could he say to convince him to actually care for his witch's wellbeing? That's when it occurred to him.

"Because if you kill her we won't be able to hang out anymore!" Nagisa stated.

"What do you mean?" Karma asked as he raised a slender eyebrow in question.

"My mistress and your witch from the looks of things are best friends, which means if you kill Okuda you'll either get sent back to the underworld or you'll be reassigned to another witch who probably won't have any connections to me or my mistress so we won't see each other anymore. Don't you see how lucky we got?" Nagisa explained.

He immensely hoped that his argument would end up changing Karma's mind and by association save Okuda's life from an early grave.

Karma pondered the thought rolling it over in his head….Was he happy to see Nagisa? Yes. Did he want to be a familiar? No. Was his witch a pushover? Yes. Would she be easy to manipulate? Yes…Thinking it over he was the dominate one in this relationship. He wouldn't be forced to become subservient by the looks of things…Yes it seems he really did get lucky. He would have to agree with Nagisa….

"Hmm…I guess…" Karma coolly stated.

He could have just said he agreed with Nagisa but that was no fun plus his pride wouldn't let him admit that Nagisa had brought up a fair point that he himself had overlooked.

Nagisa in response to Karma's apathetic statement opened his mouth to say something but before he could even utter a single syllable a crushingly heavy oppressive aura emerged and left Nagisa frozen in place as he immediately shut his mouth and looked for the source.

"YOU DEMON I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" The green haired witch roared.

She walked with great restraint as if she was trying to keep her bloodlust to a minimum with a varying amount of success. A large scowl married her face as she gritted her teeth. Her eyes held a stormy ocean of clashing emotions as her body seeped out buckets of rage in waves of irritation.

"A-Akari you said y-you wouldn't d-d-do anything brash!" Manami called out desperately.

She walked closely behind Akari her slender arms reaching out to ensnare Akari and hold her down like an anchor but Akari was physically stronger and swatted the comforting hands away as she reached for her wand.

Without warning Nagisa doubled over his neat low ponytail coming undone as an immense hunger took over his being. His fangs began forming and growing in length without his consent as his normal human skin began shifting colors with his scales coming into view….He tried covering his mouth and tried to suppress his demon urges…She was so angry so tremendously angry and he could feel it. He was absorbing all her negative emotions like a sponge and he was reaching his limit. If she didn't calm down soon he would go berserk!

"Akari!" Okuda lunched herself in front of the green haired witch.

She held her tightly, her arms stiff and her shoulders shaking as she tried to absorb all of Akari's negative emotions. It was her fault Akari felt this way! She shouldn't have said anything!

"It's okay, please stop don't hurt him okay? You promised." She said her voice quiet and tender.

"How can you say that?! He tried killing you Manami! Why are you protecting him?" Akari cried out her eyes still filled with rage but she at the very least lowered her wand and was no longer glaring at the red headed demon.

"B-Because h-he's my familiar." Manami reasoned.

"He's a _demon_!" Akari argued her face contorting in disgust spitting out the word as if it were poison.

"He doesn't care about you. Oh he'll _say_ you mean the world to him and act all nice! But, he'll betray you the first chance he gets so that he can be set free to torment other humans! That's their nature! And he'll kill you just like Koro killed Aguri!" Akari cried out her hands balling up into tight fist as hot tears streamed down her seething face.

Silence filled the room.

"Koro…d-did what…?" Manami softly asked her voice fragile and shaky as she looked up to meet Akari's torn gaze.

"You knew Koro?" The red headed demon inquired as things we're finally starting to get more interesting.

* * *

I'm sorry its so short I'll try to update sooner!


	21. The Truth

The grey stone walls which were once so welcoming and homey now seemed cold and bleak as they entrapped the heavy cloud of silence that over loomed all four of them. There was the unquestionable aura of confusion wafting amongst them juxtaposed to the mischievous air that surrounded the red headed demon whose golden eyes gleamed with delight at the turn of events. Currently all four of them had retired to Akari's old witching room under Ms. Bitch's orders; escorted personally by a few staff members. Technically speaking Akari and Manami had yet to officially graduate and as such they were still under the thumb of the school's policies and regulation. But to be honest this turned out to be the best case scenario as there was no telling what might have happened if Ms. Bitch didn't intervene to dilute the tense situation. Afterwards Ms. Bitch promptly gave them all a tongue lashing before ordering them to go stay in Akari's room until the graduation ceremony officially began; which would be a few minutes after every witch in their year was paired up with their respective familiar.

Okuda let out a sorrowful sigh, feeling like a scorned child who was forcibly sent to their room so she can think about her actions and she can say the others excluding Karma felt the same way. Akari was still fuming but she wasn't as menacing right now as she was prior; that could be due to how she's puffing up her cheeks in a pout making her look like a displeased child who was ready to throw a mini temper tantrum. Nagisa on the other hand was nervously sitting on Akari's bed with a sheepish almost submissive demeanor like a child that felt ashamed over causing a scene.

The silence was heavy but the questions ringing in Manami's head out weighted the crushing silence. So taking in a deep breath to calm her still jittering nerves she quietly spoke up her as her slender fingers grazing over her opal pendant in search for strength.

"Umm….A-akari…is it, is it….true what y-you said….?" She softly inquired slightly on edge.

Akari just nodded her head in response, not trusting herself to speak in fear that all her bottled up frustration would be taken out on poor Manami.

"No…That's…it can't be right…." Nagisa mumbled thoughtfully.

What Akari was saying completely contradicted Nagisa's view of Koro and Koro's relationship with his witch; something wasn't right.

"Maybe it was some kind of misunderstanding." He offered.

Wrong move. Akari didn't want to hurt Manami but Nagisa was a different story she didn't mind lashing out against _it_.

"Misunderstanding…? Misunderstanding! What would you know!? Where you the one holding her dead body! Did you notice her vessel magically disappeared as soon as that demon left! You stay out of things that don't involve you, demon!" She screamed.

There was a brief moment of silence that was filled entirely with emotions; hurt, confusion….and anger. That threating cloud of anger, it was softly bellowing and the source was from none other than Karma whose grin while still intact gave off a more menacing feeling than before; his golden eyes no longer gleaming with delight.

"A-akari…please d-don't yell at Nagisa….h-he's just trying to understand your s-situation…" Okuda exclaimed not fully understanding why her best friend was so…mean to her familiar right now….

"Really Manami? Why are you always defending him!? You're my friend you're supposed to be on MY side!" Akari demanded her anger boiling over.

Nagisa in turn began to clutch his stomach as if in pain.

"P-please calm down…" Manami pleaded as she made her way to comfort Akari.

"I…I don't really understand what's going on b-but i-if Koro did what you said he d-did that…he…k-k-killed your sister…t-than I believe you…but please….please d-don't let these negative emotions control you a-and make you bitter! I-it's not good for Nagisa a-and it's especially no good for you!" Manami argued quietly as she tightly hugged Akari as if trying to absorb all of Akari's negative emotions.

In turn Akari engulfed large sums of cool air to sooth her boiling blood as she counted backwards from one hundred. This combined with the sweet lavender scent of Manami's person managed to soother her scathing feelings and slowly Nagisa felt the pain subside as he slowly let go of his stomach, no longer in pain but still uncomfortable. While the bellowing rage of the other demon kept the tension in the room high.

"Manami….I want that demon dead." Akari vindicated.

Her words were spoken with a harsh ruthlessness. Every letter was filled with raw emotion yet they held no echo to them, they felt cold and empty...

"I want my revenge." She continued with that same tone of voice that caused Manami's hair to stand on edge.

Manami didn't know what to do. Even….Even if Koro was a horrible demon to exact revenge seemed counterintuitive even hypocritical….She wants Akari to let go and move on with her life….But this feeling of revenge seems to have a tight hold of her friend's heart because even though Manami is socially impaired with things she KNOWS Akari. She can at the very least tell that she's not going to let this go anytime soon…She doesn't know what she can say to change her friend's mind.

"Well if you're so set on finding that yellow octopus, count me in." Karma pipped in cheerfully.

Taking the whole room by surprise.

"W-What! But Karma i-if we find him that's means we would have to…" Nagisa began.

"Kill him? Yes I know how revenge works Nagisa." Karma rebutted.

"B-But I thought h-he was you're guys' friend…" Manami stated confusion evident in her tone of speaking.

"Meh...I always did wonder if I could take him anyway." Came Karma's relaxed reply as he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"D-do you feel the same way Nagisa?" Okuda asked softly her purple eyes still swirling with confusion.

"Um…" Nagisa was a little hesitant to answer seeing as his mistress obliviously held a very strong grudge against his mentor and friend. But, finally he gave his response.

"If…If my mistress wishes it then it will be done regardless of what I think…." Nagisa said autonomously.

"I-I see…" Okuda said…

"So then I guess we're all on the same page then, right?" Akari stated her hazel eyes gleaming with bloodlust.

"I-I…If t-this is what you want…I-I'll support you…" Manami resentfully stated her voice submissive and gentle while her eyes fixated their gaze on the ground.

"Then let's go kill that demon!"


	22. Revenge Start

Okuda was unsure if time was really passing…It felt like it wasn't. Staring blankly into the bathroom mirror she tried searching for answers in her reflection, to no avail... Akari was so very dear to her and she's known her for a very long time now…but something didn't bode… Koro killed Aguri? The thought alone baffled her and from the look of things it must have baffled Nagisa to.

Granted she may not have known a lot about Koro…But Nagisa seems to have a history with him…Speaking of Nagisa…Okuda felt like she was slowly piecing everything together about her friend's odd behavior. Akari was always a very kind warm person, to see her acting so bitterly and malevolent towards Nagisa was startling and just plain wrong….But she was at a loss. She wanted to believe Akari, but…

She should probably consulate Nagisa about the matter after the ceremony.

* * *

She recalls going up on stage, but after that everything sort of blurred. She was there when the council president gave their opening and ending speech, she was there to hear the guest speaker, and she stood up like all the others did as they sang their class anthem. But, at the same time she was so far, far away. It was too evident to Rio that something was on the young witch's mind. She felt the need to ask what it could be, but Akari answered in Okuda's steed. Saying something along the line that Okuda just had a lot on her mind…

Rio doesn't know what's happened to her two friends, but she desperately hopes that whatever is going on can resolve itself quickly because her friends are starting to look more and more like strangers every passing minute. It was so very weird to think, that in the beginning of spring they had started out as friends but now as they meet up once again during summer at their graduation they were saying their goodbyes and parting as nothing more than strangers. Rio hopes that perhaps down the line they could rekindle their friendship once Okuda and Akari sort out their problems.

"H-hey A-Akari…"

"What is it Manami?"

"Um…I was…I was thinking c-could you and K-karma head up to my room…you know s-since we need to talk a-about what to do next….w-with things like tracking down Koro…"

"A strategy meeting?"

"Uhh Y-yes…that!"

"Well then no time to waste let's get going."

"Um…w-w-wait! I actually need to do something real quick…." Okuda exclaimed as she tried her best to think of a good enough excuse so she could stay and talk with Nagisa.

"Can't it wait?" Akari asked with a pout.

She wanted to get her revenge as soon as possible.

"Umm…well…It's just…I…" She couldn't do this….

She wasn't good at lying. Perhaps she should just be straight forward…that seemed like the best option…

"I need to talk to…Nagisa…"

"…"

Akari didn't say anything.

"P-privately…" Manami continued nervously…

Once again Akari failed to reply, but Akari couldn't refuse Okuda's selfish request. She owed Manami that much at least…but she also didn't want to leave Manami alone with that demon….

"You get five minutes and if anything happens you come get me okay…" Akari instructed.

Suddenly all the anxiety that had been building up inside Manami's petit body seemed to crumple away as she let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Akari." She stated happily with a smile before she went up to talk to Nagisa….

Akari cautiously watched them go…her stomach forming knots…

"Want to go spy on them?" A velvety voiced inquired.

She turned to see the mischievous red head smiling down at her…She bit her lip in thought….As much as it pained her to say it….he was attractive in his human form and she cursed him for that….Having such a handsome face made him more annoying.

"No. Let's go they'll join us shortly." She replied as she made her way to Okuda's dorm room already regretting her decision.

"Hey Okuda, so what do you need?" Nagisa asked with a nervous smile.

"Oh um…First I would like to apologize." She said apologetically bowing.

"H-huh!? No, you don't need to! You didn't do anything..."

"I mean I want to apologize on Akari's behalf." She clarified.

"Oh…you…don't need to…" Nagisa said softly but he will admit that her apologizing at the very least made him feel more welcomed….more cared for…

"Um...I…Do you think Koro really did it!" Okuda exclaimed as she tightly gripped onto the cloth of her skirt her eyes determined to find answers in his…

"Well…." He hesitated only because she was rather close to him now; looking for the answers in his eyes…His pulse started to quicken.

"No. I don't think he did it." He responded honestly.

"I knew it…!" She proclaimed a small rush of relief washing over her as she placed a tentative hand on her fast beating heart.

"Was that…umm…all you wanted to hear?" Nagisa inquired a little disappointed that the conversation was so short.

"Oh uhh…y-yeah…but umm…just so you know Akari is usually really nice…it's just…she's confused and angry right now…" Okuda explained with pleading eyes hoping Nagisa believed her.

"Y-Yeah well I'm sure things will get better..." Nagisa said as if to convince himself.

"No they won't." Okuda stated bluntly.

"H-huh…? Well that's not really reassuring." Nagisa remarked with a small grimace…

"Things aren't going to get better unless we can prove Koro wasn't the killer!" She elaborated with fiery conviction.

"You want to prove his innocence…?" Nagisa questioned his eyes growing in slight surprise.

"Yes, s-so please help me prove his innocence!" She pleaded as she bowed her head in desperation…

"M-Ms. Okuda you r-really don't have to bow." Nagisa insisted as he flushed with embarrassment.

"…Does…that mean you won't help me…" She lamented softly her eyes filling with despair as her shoulders slouched in sorrow.

"No!" He proclaimed loudly before flinching at his volume. "No I'll help! I want to help you and prove that Koro is innocent!"

A grateful smile graced Manami's soft features her lavender eyes sparkling with joy. The sight of such innocence, of such honest blunt joy made Nagisa's heart jump….He wasn't used to this kind of cuteness.

"Thank you so much Nagisa!"

"N-No problem…" He stuttered as just the sound of his name falling from her lips made him feel warm…

"B-but we need to keep this a secret…." Okuda whispered.

Her eyes were still filled with that purple fire of determination but it seemed like that flame was being smoldered by a rainy cloud of worry.

"Don't worry Okuda, I promise everything is going to be okay." Nagisa consoled as he held out his pinky finger to make his promise official.

"T-thank you." She said again as she wrapped her pinky around his in agreement.

The beginning was a bit of a rocky start but he hoped for the best…As long as he had Karma and Okuda as support then how bad could things get?

….

But if he was being true to himself he will admit that his growing envy of Karma only grew the more time he spent with Okuda…so he made another promise to himself that day that if Karma ever failed to protect her then he would gladly pick up the slack. Nothing was going to harm his pseudo-mistress. Not even Karma…

* * *

Akari gritted her teeth in irritation as her left leg shook involuntarily with impatience. She should have told Manami that she would only give her one minute to talk with Nagisa because right now Karma was being….annoying. He wasn't even doing anything! He was just grinning at her as if he knew something she didn't….as if he already did something and he's just waiting for his hard work to pay off.

"What are you looking!?" She finally asked as a blood vessel began to appear on her forehead from irritation.

That just made the redhead's grin grow because he already knew from looking at her what buttons to push to send her over the edge and her irritation was a delectable snack.

"Just the air in front of your chest; where your breast should be." He commented coolly.

That did it! She was going to murder this bastard!

"You son of a b-…"

"Akari I'm back sorry for taking so…long..." Manami's sentence slowly trailed off once she saw her best friend straddling her familiar in bed with her fist caught in mid-air as her other hand held his neck…

"Ah~ Manami-chan Cabbage head is being mean to me." Karma whined with a fake high pitch voice pretending to be scared.

And even though it was obvious from the demon's grin that he was acting Manami believed his lie.

"A-Akari d-don't hurt my familiar!" She cried as she rushed over to separate the two.

"W-What Manami! I didn't do anything! He's lying!" Akari cried trying to convince Manami that Karma was in the wrong not her.

"Why would he do that?" Okuda asked with genuine confusion on her face.

Akari glared at Karma.

"How dare you take advantage of poor gullible Manami?!" She exclaimed as she pointed an accusing finger.

Karma just stuck out his tongue and shrugged before diverting his attention to his best friend.

"So what were you two talking about?" He asked curiously

"Huh? Oh we…"

Nagisa briefly looked up to meet Manami's pleading eyes. She was obviously nervous he would go back on his word.

"She just wanted some advice on how to handle you as you can be a bit…unpredictable." Nagisa smoothly lied.

There was a second of silence before Karma replied with a strained grin.

"You're not lying to me now are you, Nagisa?"

"Why would a lie?" Nagisa asked with a curious smile as he titled his head innocently.

"Yeah…why would you?" Karma echoed his curiosity peaked.

There was a brief pause in between Karma's sentence hinting at the fact that whatever secret Nagisa was keeping from him wouldn't stay secret for long.

"Anyway first things first I doubt you two have any money or supplies do you?" Karma asked the two witches who sheepishly looked at their empty pockets.

"W-we have some money in our bank account b-but we were going to save it and only use it when we needed to until we got a q-quest…" Manami explained.

"Yeah I totally forgot about that…." Akari grimaced.

Both witches had gotten accepted by the EP Guild and where expected to come in two days from today for their first quest….The original plan was to stay with Aguri until they got their financial footing but with Aguri gone…

"GOD Koro screwed us over!" Akari bellowed as she clenched her fist in rage.

"I-I'm sure we can think up of something else…." Manami suggested trying to remain positive.

"Hmm…in this scenario renting a hotel would probably be the best course of action we can take as we are going to have to move from place to place to track down Koro." Nagsia stated thoughtfully.

"As much as I hate to admit it Nagisa has a point." Akari remarked resentfully.

"Oh! I just remembered I have a lot of potions and ingredients that I left in my room so we have that at the very least!" Okuda proclaimed with a smile feeling useful.

"What about your sister's house has it been cleaned out already?" Karma lazily inquired as he sat cross-legged on the bed resting his head on his hand.

"No not yet…We may be able to get some stuff before they confiscate everything…" Akari mumbled becoming gloomy at the thought of her sister.

"THE MIRROR!" Manami shouted causing everyone to flinch at her volume.

"The…what now?" Nagisa asked titling his head in confusion….was that like code for something…?

"Aguri's cove is a pocket dimeson accessible only through the mirror if it's still there that means that…." Okuda started.

"That means that all her stuff will be there to!" Akari finished.

"Oh wow that's amazing." Nagisa praised his affection for the purple witch only growing.

"Okay then! First thing we need to do is get to Aguri's house and get the mirror and from there we can just rent some house or apartment." Akari said happily as her revenge plan was finally starting to get into motion.

* * *

"Mister Oka please tell me you found something…" A female coworker pleaded her usual neat hair bun reduced to nothing more than a bird's nest from the stress she was under.

It's been weeks now and they still haven't found a trace of the demon known as Koro. The boss was growing impatient at their lack of results and she fears what may happen to her team and herself if they didn't find anything by the end of this month.

"Sorry Mrs. Yuki but it's like he vanished without a trace….but if I'm right...perhaps we've been looking at this all wrong..."

"Explain."

"Well Koro was very much enamored with his master. It stands to reason that perhaps to cope with his loss he is trying to keep the memory of her alive. What I mean to say is it is likely he is with Akari's relatives or staying at places the both of them often frequented."

"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard….but it's also the only thing I've heard so far….This lead is shaky at best but it's a lead none the less. Start looking for any living relatives of the late witch known as Aguri….Even a demon has trouble severing all ties with loved one it seems." She said with a tired sigh.

Normally she wouldn't conduct an investigation with such a shaky premise but she was desperate. Hopefully if they find someone who was close to Aguri then by extension they could find someone who was close to Koro.


	23. Mirror retrieval

Nagisa, Karma, Okuda, and Akari made their way down the long red carpeted hallways of the witching academy having decided that they're first course of action is to get to Aguri's house. The plan was to use the money stored in Akari and Manami's joint bank account to buy plane tickets and possibly rent two hotel rooms for the night so they could retrieve the mirror in the morning. Walking down the halls at a hurried pace the two witches spared no second glances to any of their old classmates or teachers, according to Akari there was no time to reminisce. They had to get to Aguri's home as soon as possible.

They had almost made it out the giant redwood doors of the academy when the flower girls suddenly materialized out of nowhere with haughty smiles and stuck up noses. Just like everyone else the two witches and their familiars were intending to just ignore them and Manami silently mused over the fact that these girls who once were her antagonists now seemed so….insignificant….they didn't matter like they used to and she found that fact bewildering.

The flower girls evidently did try to stop the two from leaving the school grounds intending to cause them grief one final time but Akari wasn't having any of that bullshit today….not right now…not when her revenge plan just started.

"Well, well if it isn't the flat chested witch and her lapdog?" Iris sneered….or was it Daisy…did it matter?

"Can it! We don't have time for this!" Akari bellowed taking out her wand intending to use a simple levitation spell on the flower girls to forcibly move them out the way.

However Iris's familiar a purple colored pixie nullified the spell.

"So where's your familiar Okuda? Or did you not even managed to summon even a simple spirit?" Aster scoffed.

"…." Okuda quietly stared at Aster with a blank face as if she was looking pass the girl….

Her younger self would have been terrified at the mere sight of these girls…but…

"We're in a hurry. Please, get out of our way we need to do something important." She said bluntly with no sugar coating, with no hesitation, with no fear just blunt and honest.

"Ohh look who's finally grown a backbone! You should have just stayed spineless because now we're going to teach you a lesson!"

They reached for their wands but before anyone had any time to react….the room suddenly got extremely _cold_ ….

Akari and Nagisa don't have the strongest bond in the world much less a good relationship but at the very least they both shared the mutual need to protect Okuda and smite all who gave her trouble…Their feelings were so in tune that their magical energies entangled themselves together and fused creating a new source of power that coursed through their veins like adrenaline and they by some miracle managed to synchronize their magic unconsciously. It wasn't intentional and it acted more as a splurge of magic than anything else as the sudden increase in power caused Akari's magic to instinctively set off which resulted in a powerful freezing spell that froze almost the entirety of the flower girls' body leaving only their faces unfrozen.

Akari blinked in surprise…before shaking her head she didn't have time to dwell on the fact she synchronized with that blue haired demon.

"Come on let's go." Akari demanded as she walked past the frozen bodies of the flower girls'.

Nagisa wanted to comment on what just happened but found it best to just do as he was told and so like the obedient familiar he was both he and Okuda followed suit but Karma couldn't pass up this opportunity.

"Hehe I've been wondering if a human could withstand the pain of wasabi being stuck up their nose…" Karma mused darkly with a mirthful smile his demon horns and tail appearing without his volition.

The other three only ever realized Karma was missing when they heard the terrified cries of the flower girls.

* * *

"Okay Manami hang on tight." Akari gently instructed.

Nagisa assisted Manami in getting onto the broom and once safely on she securely encircled her arms around Akari's slim waist to keep from falling off.

"T-thank you Nagisa…B-but there's not enough room for you…" Okuda commented already knowing that Karma was capable of flight and would not need their assistance.

"Want me to carry you?" Karma teased as his bat wings extended outwards from his back in a burst of flames.

Nagisa flushed in response. Although he had wings he had trouble with takeoff and the most he could manage was gliding as his demon body was often too heavy for his wings to carry, however he's never tried flying in his human form yet…

"That won't be necessary." Nagisa stated quickly before Karma reached for him or teased him further.

In a glimmer of snow a pair of feathery wings emerged from his lower back. Manami gasp in surprise as her eyes filled with childlike awe.

"Wow…So you can fly to! It makes me all the more curious to see your demon form." Okuda commented happily as she curiously gazed at the powder blue wings…however…

"Aren't they a little small?" She asked.

Nagisa flushed in embarrassment while Karma snorted at that statement as he knew Nagisa didn't like it when people commented on his small wings.

"W-well…Karma usually helps me during takeoff… and usually the most I can do is glide, but don't worry about it my human form weighs a lot less than my demon form so I'm sure I can fly!" Nagisa reassured.

With that being said all four of them took off to the sky and headed towards the airport as a plane would get them to their destination faster. Mission: Mirror retrieval was a go!

* * *

"Name: Yukimura, Akari

Age: 17

Eye color: Hazel

Hair color: Black dyed green

She had her awakening on set causing temperatures to drop and frost to form; it seems she was a really popular child actor or whatever…Allergies none, Blood type AB body measurements blah blah blah…Looks like she just graduated from Salem's Academy this year." Mr. Oka said his eyes scanning the printed document in his hand.

"Is she the only relative? What about the parents?" Yuki questioned

"Died in a car crash."

"What about cousins, grandparents anyone?"

"Well…Ms. Aguri hasn't had contact with them for quite some time it seems Shiro kept her very isolated from her family Akari's the only one whose managed to maintain contact with Aguri over the years." Mr. Oka explained.

"God dammit, Shiro! He was a real pain in the ass in life and he's still causing us grief from over the grave." Yuki cursed.

"Tell me about it…" Mr. Oka grumbled remembering the time Shiro destroyed his computer during one of his episodes…and that was before they started prodding him with needles and drugs.

"Whatever! Start searching for her whereabouts now. We can't waste any more time!"

"Aye, aye ma'am…" Oka replied with a teasing undertone before returning to work.

* * *

After everyone had been fully rested the coming morning they woke up early and made it to Aguri's house without delays…

The presence of happy memories still lingered in the lonely rooms of the now desolate house… like a ghost…Being here was not helping Akari's mood…

"Let's just get in and get out I don't want to stay here for longer than necessary." Akari grumbled as she hesitantly made her way to where she remembers the mirror was.

And there it stood, slightly covered in dust but in perfect shape no less. It was only then that Okuda realized something….

"How are we going to move it?" She asked.

The mirror was a full body mirror and while she's sure they can lift it between them and Karma could probably carry it by himself with no problem that did not mean transporting it around would be any easier especially if they had to remain mobile to track down Koro' whereabouts…

"Hmm…First let's see if it still works and if it does maybe we can find something to make transporting this thing way easier." Akari suggested as she made her way into the cove's entrance.

Just like before the mirror's surface rippled and waded as Akari touched it. She easily made it to the other side…where everything seemed to be untouched by time as the desks and furniture slowly started to collect dust. The only major difference was that all the herbs and plants that once flourished here were now reduced to dying yellow carcass as there was no one to tend to them. Akari glared at their corpses…Koro always weeded them and watered them and now they're dead meaning he never came back here or at the very least he never came back to the cove.

"Nice crib…" Karma lazily commented as he took in the surroundings this being his first time in a witch's cove.

"Focus." Akari ordered tearing her eyes away from the dying plants as she made her way to the top half of the cove that was filled with bookshelves and spells.

A thought then popped into her head and the memory of a cackling Manami over a bubbling cauldron was brought to light.

"Oh! And don't let Manami near the cauldron." She commented before she made her way up the floating steps.

On the other side Nagisa was wearily observing the mirror hesitant to walk in as he was not used to this kind of magic.

"Aren't you coming in?" Manami asked already half-way through the mirror.

"…Sorry it's just…I've never seen something like this so I'm a bit weary." Nagisa explained; with an embarrassed smile.

In response Manami gently took hold of his hand intending to help him through the mirror just as she had done with Akari the first time they went inside. Warmth quickly spread across the pale boy's cheeks coloring them a light red.

"Don't worry it's perfectly safe I promise." Okuda said with a comforting smile gently pulling Nagisa into the mirror.

Once inside Nagisa's curiosity sparked.

"Is this what a cove usually looks like?" Nagisa asked after finally entering the mirror.

"Well most coves reflect the type of person the witch is and they're profession." Manami explained.

"Do you think there might be anything here to prove Koro's innocence?" Nagisa whispered mindful of Karma's current presence although the redhead seemed to be preoccupied examining the floating orbs of light and the glimmering stings of crystals and shells that hanged overhead….

"I hope so…" Okuda whispered back…

There was a brief lull in their conversation before Okuda spoke up again.

"Can I have my hand back now?" She asked to which Nagisa suddenly let go of her hand as if it had burned him…

"S-Sorry."

"Oh! Are you still scared…? If so I do not mind lending you my hand again!" Okuda stated suddenly feeling bad for wanting her hand back if Nagisa was still not comfortable in his new surroundings.

"O-Oh no…no that won't be necessary haha…I'm just…gonna go over there now!" Nagisa stuttered making a bee line to his only source of comfort and familiarity in this whole room…which was Karma.

"Oh okay." Okuda responded assuming Nagisa's nervous energy and jitters were due to a combination of him being eager to find clues to prove Koro's innocence and the magical new surroundings he found himself in…

She didn't understand nor comprehend that she was the reason for Nagisa's nervousness Nagisa himself didn't really get it either…but Karma started to have an inkling on what was going on between Okuda and his best friend…and he did not like it not one bit. He could only hope he was interrupting things wrong but whenever he observed the two hanging out, even if there time together was short he did not miss the telltale signs of a budding crush. The way Nagisa shifted his weight, his nervous but charming smiles and the pink glow in his cheeks…As his friend he recognized the symptoms of a crush…

"Nagisa."

Nagisa turned to face his friend cheeks still slightly red from embarrassment.

"Hmm?"

He hummed out a questioning sound curious as to what Karma had to say, attentively listening.

"If you want to fuck her just get it over with." Karma stated his tone even as if he was talking about normal mundane things like the weather or sports…

"WHAT!" Nagisa shouted before his hands covered his mouth embarrassed by how loud he was…but the two witches must have not cared or been too busy to pay the two familiars any mind.

"It's kinda gross seeing you all lovey dovey I'm giving you my permission to satisfy your needs."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Nagisa exclaimed in a hushed whisper his face reddening by the topic…

"Still playing the ignorant game I see…"

"Karma I swear to god I don't know what you're talking about."

"That secret you wanted to keep from me I figured it out, you have a thing for Okuda right?"

"I-I mean…wha…no…I just… maybe…but…you know…not no, no…!"

There really was no use denying it now that Karma was so set on his theory and it was embarrassing considering that fact that Okuda was his witch and he was his friend…It just felt awkward…

"Just fuck her and get it out of your system." Karma coolly commented with a slightly bitter tone.

"Out of my system? What do you mean?" Nagisa cried in shock as he felt he was being accused of just being an overly horny male who needed his fix.

"Well don't you want to?" He asked with a teasing smile.

"I-I mean…No! I…You got it all wrong…I just want her to like me is all…in a platonic way…!"

….

….

"It shouldn't matter if she likes you or not after all you have me what else do you need?" Karma stated.

That's when it clicked…Karma didn't want to lose his friend to some girl…in essence he felt threatened by Okuda.

"Karma Mistress Okuda could never replace you, I swear I don't have a crush on her I was just embarrassed for that moment." Nagisa reasoned and his response seemed to satisfy the redhead demon.

"Good because I'm not big on sharing." Karma confessed with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah with that out of the way let's start looking for something that might help us transport this mirror." Nagisa said dismissively.

"Roger that ma'am."

"…"

"…"

"…Fuck you…" Nagisa grumbled with a pout.

"Nagisa keep your hormones in check…not that I'm opposed to the idea." Karma taunted.

Nagisa scowled his face turning a bright red letting on a 'humph' as he turned to look away from Karma.


End file.
